1001 Konan Nights
by Kakyoku
Summary: In an attempt to seduce the beautiful Hotohori, Nuriko does the Sheherazade gig. It seems, however, that the gods have other plans for her story hours...
1. Konan Nights, ch 1

It had been a trying day, Hotohori reflected as his servants finished anointing his lovely skin and helped him into a flowing, comfortable sleeping gown. Everything pointed to war with Kotou as soon as the winter rains ceased, and the kingdom's brightest hope rested with Miaka's small party of guardians. The Emperor of Konan was a realist -- it didn't seem likely that the party was equal to the task.  
  
When the servants left, he found himself almost desparately tired, but also too restless to sleep. He wished achingly that Miaka could be beside him; he could even summon her if he chose, but he would not do so. He glanced at the table that sometimes served as his desk, but the servants, wisely perhaps and certainly kindly, had removed any business with which he might occupy himself. Only a scroll of love poetry -- he snorted elegantly -- was laid out in case he wanted to read before retiring.  
  
At that moment someone scratched very quietly at the door. He nearly ran to answer it, hoping that it would not be bad news.  
  
To his relief, it was only Nuriko, and it didn't look as if she was worried about anything in particular. She was elegantly dresed as always, though in evening rather than night clothes. Her hair was charmingly disarrayed, and her eyes hinted at mischief rather than disaster. Inclining his head, partly to hide a small smile, he invited her in and amused himself by motioning her to sit before seating himself across from her.  
  
"So, Hotohori-sama, you are not being very imperial this evening," she observed.  
  
"I think -- at least I hope -- I have been imperial enough for one day," he replied, and they spoke of small matters while servants served tea and a very light supper for two, setting their offerings out on lovely glazed plates of spring green, with a few early spring flowers scattered artfully among them. Then the servants discreetly withdrew, leaving the Emperor and his guest to admire the presentation.  
  
Hotohori dutifully gazed at the food for several minutes -- after all, it would not do to insult those who worked so hard to please him. As soon as he decently could, though, he raised his eyes to Nuriko, who had apparently spent the interval looking at him rather than the food. Caught out in this small deviation from protocol, she merely smiled wryly. "The idea *was* to admire beauty," she observed quietly, startling Hotohori into a small bark of laughter.  
  
"You're impossible, you know," he observed, taking a tiny delicacy so that she also could begin. "Are the ladies of my harem very shocked by you?"  
  
She did not answer immediately, busying herself with a tiny sip of tea. "It is odd that you should mention your ladies," she replied at length, "since I was just thinking how to bring them to your attention. You see, I came tonight hoping to amuse you, to... perhaps to give you a bit of respite from your relentlessly gloomy counsellors. And what I proposed to offer was a few light stories about the ladies of your harem. After all, you attend on us so seldom that all our gossip will be news to you, so..." Her tone was as frothy as any court beauty's, but the look in her eyes stopped his breath for a moment.  
  
"Here I thought I was receiving a visit from Nuriko-sei," he observed, forcing his face to express only courtly amusement, "but instead I am honored by Korin-sama! Shall I ask the priests what I have done to deserve such a fortunate visit, Lady Korin?"  
  
"I think perhaps you do not appreciate how much you are loved, Hotohori-sama, and by no one as much as the ladies of your harem," she replied with a hint of flirtation in her tone. He didn't have the courage to look and see what was in her eyes, this time. "But what stories shall I tell you, Sire? There was a wonderful poetry contest last night -- I do believe some of the offrerings would suit you more than that drivel," she observed with a small, elegant motion toward the scroll he had not chosen to read.  
  
"No doubt you are right, my lady. I imagine your taste in poetry is superior to mine. In fact, it could hardly be worse -- my tutors despaired of me in that regard, I must confess. But..." He paused for effect, and she perforce waited to hear his preference. "I think perhaps I would prefer to hear about your own experiences. Surely you are one of the more exceptional beauties of my harem, hmm?"  
  
Now he did raise his eyes to meet hers, and what he saw was not what he expected. The pose of the court beauty had vanished, but neither did she wear the look of sardonic humor that so frequently infuriated him. He might have called the look she wore... regret. "Korin-sama?" the emporer whispered.  
  
Now the court beauty was back. "Yes, of course, Hotohori-sama. I suppose you might even say that I am *unique* among your ladies. Well, I am yours to command, of course. What stories would you like to hear?"  
  
"If you would prefer..."  
  
"Hotohori-sama! We so often say that we are yours to command, why do you not believe it?"  
  
"You're impossible, Lady Korin! Tell me then, is it true that you have been in my harem for a full year?"  
  
"A year and nearly a month more, Sire. Of course, I spent two full years trying to work out how to get in..."  
  
"Yes," he interrupted, leaning forward eagerly, "I'd like to hear how you managed it. From what my advisors told me when they set up the harem, it shouldn't have been possible for you to be admitted!"  
  
"Hmmm. Well, Hotohori-sama, I don't know if I can answer you directly. I certainly wouldn't want you to send some sort of inspector-general to sniff out corruption in the harem! If that is what you intend, I'd just have to claim it was Suzaku-shin's will and leave it at that!"  
  
"Be at ease. I am inclined to regard it as Suzaku-shin's will regardless of the details, but... I *am* curious."  
  
"It's rather a long story," she tried to demur, but he simply nodded. If it was not precisely an imperial command, it was not a request she could easily refuse. She settled back, collected her thoughts for a moment, and began.  
  
"Well, then, where to start? I suppose I must go back to my tenth year, when I first became a girl. I come from a large village, or small town, a day's fast ride from the capital. My mother liked to consider us a noble family, though my father made sure we were taxed as merchants instead, since that was less burdensome, and as a merchant he wasn't required to send his sons into military service. Anyway, when their youngest son decided to become their youngest daughter instead, my parents were horrified. My father had counted on me joining the family business, though I have three older brothers to carry on that tradition. My mother was just terrified that the neighbors would find out and speak ill of *her*. When they realized, after a series of bitter arguments, that I would not change either my mind or my clothing, they confined me to my room until I chose to come to my senses.  
  
"Being under house arrest wasn't all bad -- my eldest brother used to come in to talk often, saying I eased his heart when he was worried about business matters. And one of the maids taught me to sew. We never told my mother about that, but actually, I had a small talent for designing clothing, and in time my mother's wardrobe held mostly gowns I had made for her. I have often wondered if she knew that I had made them and simply wouldn't acknowledge my efforts...  
  
"I used to daydream a lot about living like other women, having women friends and even a husband. But it was not until I was nearly fifteen that I had the urge -- the compulsion, even -- to pursue the life I had dreamed of. I still don't know what changed in me at that time -- maybe I was seduced by the allure of an especially lovely spring, or the gossip of one of the maids, who was about to get married... I have wondered since if my decision bore the marks of Suzaku-shin's talons.  
  
"For whatever reason, I slipped out of my parents' house very late one night, carrying two fine gowns I had made for myself with my own hands, plus a few coins one of the maids had given me when she had needed an extra seamstress to help her complete a paying project. I ran along the road far enough that I knew I could outpace any pursuit the next day -- for my father didn't keep a horse. Then I sat down in a small copse of woods next to the road and dozed until sunrise.  
  
"I soon discovered that the roads are not completely safe for a comely young maiden. By noon, two young men in carts had tried to convince me to ride with them, making it pretty clear what they wanted in return. But it was after my meager midday meal -- which cost far too much of my small cache of coin -- that I encountered real trouble. A third young man, mounted on a rather handsome horse, stopped and invited me to ride with him. When I refused courteously, he took hold of me and tried to pull me up by main force. (He tore my third-best gown, too!) I tried to fight him, but he was much stronger than I was -- then.  
  
"I really fear what would have happened if a carter hadn't come along just then and demanded an explanation for the ruffian's behavior. I didn't stop to determine whether the carter might have helped me -- as soon as the fellow on horseback released me, I fled into the fields by the road and hid. I waited for both of them -- my would-be abductor and my might-have-been-rescuer -- to go on about their business, then I walked along the road very nervously, always ready to hide if I heard anyone coming.  
  
"It was a very tiring way to travel, and by early evening I was exhausted, famished, and trying hard not to cry with the frustration of it all. I suppose that I must have been preoccupied with my own misery, because for the first time in hours I didn't notice someone coming along the road in time to hide.  
  
"Fortunately, it was another woman, a reasonably well-fed peasant to look at her. She was about middle-aged and solidly built, with an open and sympathetic face. Somehow, I couldn't be afraid of her. She took me in for the night, and we came up with a plan, though it took her ever so long to convince me. Finally, though, I agreed that I should dress as a boy for the duration of the trip to the capital. She had no idea, of course, that my body was that of a boy, and that I resisted her very sensible idea, not merely from feminine propriety, but because dressing as a boy would betray my whole reason for making the journey! But in the end she wore me down, and gave me a usable suit of boy's clothes that fit reasonably well, plus a hat that would cover my hair if I tied it up. I offered her my third-best gown in return, and she was teary-eyed with gratitude. I don't think she had ever owned anything of even second-grade silk.  
  
"Well, the journey went more smoothly after that, though my coin dwindled to nothing by the morning of the third day. Luck was with me then, too -- a carter asked my help unloading his cart at the next town, in return for a good meal and a few coins as well. I was afraid that I wouldn't be much good to him, for I had done hardly any physical work -- or even play! -- for several years. But it turned out I was much stronger than I thought. In fact, the man seemed a bit surprised at how quickly I finished his work. You will have guessed that my newfound strength was the first sign of Suzaku-shin's gift, though I had as yet no idea that such a thing could be happening."  
  
"Had you never heard the legend of Suzaku no Miko, then?"  
  
"I suppose I must have, even though my parents also stopped having me tutored when they confined me. But the legend is very well-known, after all, and when the shirushi appeared, I remembered it -- but I'm getting ahead of my tale. I did notice, though without recognizing the significance of it, that the closer I came to the capital, the stronger I was becoming. I began to have to hide my strength, for fear that I would get too much attention -- or the wrong kind of attention!  
  
"So I made my way by stages to the capital. As I've said, the journey would have required only a single day for a man with one change of fast horses, but it took me nearly a month to complete. And all the time I worried about how I would manage to live as a woman in the capital, when I couldn't even manage it on the roads. In the darkest hours of the night, I sometimes woke from dreams that I was not meant to be a woman after all, but the kind of man my parents wanted me to be. Those dreams terrified me.  
  
"When I reached the capital, I stayed the first night in a small inn (for I had amassed a comfortable stock of coin from working along with road.) I paid for the room in advance as a boy, and I left it well before dawn as a young woman.  
  
"I soon managed to find work in a small seamstress' shop not too far from the palace. I thought that I had found my life at last -- I was making enough to eat decently, rent a room and dress well enough, and I could even afford a bit of privacy. That was important, since using public baths was not possible. But most of all, I spent my days working and gossiping with other girls my age, the first women friends I had ever had!"  
  
She caught his eyes sidelong. "There was even a boy who liked to wait for me after work and walk me home, he said to protect me. I didn't encourage him... much. He wasn't really my type. Though in those days I don't think I knew what 'my type' was -- I hadn't seen you yet, Hotohori-sama! So I was nice to the poor boy, because I was flattered by his attentions and also because he was really a nice guy and I didn't want to hurt his feelings. I figured, everyone has to fall in love with someone impossible the first time, right?"  
  
Just for an instant, Hotohori looked stricken, but he recovered himself immediately. If Nuriko noticed, she offered no reaction, but continued with her story.  
  
"One day the shop's owner was engaged to prepare some gowns for a lady of the Imperial Harem. It was enormously exciting for all of us! We girls weren't allowed to enter there, of course, our mistress brought back so many stories of the great and lovely ladies there that I began to have new daydreams -- this time of being one of those ladies and living in the harem. I didn't even dare mention those dreams to the other girls, but of course they all had the same daydreams and discussed the matter constantly. You wouldn't believe how enticing your harem seems to ordinary women, Hotohori-sama. There was such an undercurrent of excitement in that shop as they discussed what harem life must be like! And of course they made elaborate plans to get inside. It was common knowledge that ladies usually came to the harem with an armed escort and a letter of introduction from their parents, for every noble family wants to give you an Empress, Hotohori-sama. But it was also said that not every one of the ladies who arrived was admitted to the harem -- a potential empress, I was told, had not only to be beautiful, but also intelligent and charming and trained at the very least to manage an estate in the absence of most of the men. Beyond even these high standards, the maidens accepted were usually culturally accomplished -- according to the rumors, there were wonderful brushstroke artists among the harem maidens, as well as singers, dancers, lute players, poets...   
  
"And then there were the whispered rumors -- the ones that made me want to rage and weep. It was said that every maiden was examined by a physician to be sure she had no blemishes hidden beneath her clothes -- and that she was a virgin as well. Well, if that was true, I knew *I* could never enter the harem, for of course I could not pass such an examination. I was depressed for several days after I first heard about the examination. Isn't it strange how, when we have attained what we want, we always make ourselves unhappy with wanting something more?  
  
"I resolved to put my dreams of the harem aside. My days passed pleasantly enough, and I really thought I had given up any unrealistic idea of joining the harem -- until the star festival came. It was my first major festival since coming to the city, and I took up an invitation from some of the other girls to let them show me the wonders of the capital. They all loved to tease me about being a provincial yokel, though, truth to tell, my manners were better than most of theirs!  
  
"Oh, it was the most wonderful night of my life, Hotohori-sama. Because, while we were strolling along the royal boulevard, your palanquin was carried on a tour of the city, and I saw your face for the first time. I believe it was that instant that my "willow" shirushi became visible -- at least I first noticed it that night when I returned home.  
  
"As soon as I saw you, I knew I *had* to find a way into the harem, no matter how impossible it seemed. The desire became irresistable to me, just as the desire to come to the capital had been irresistable to me when I left home. All I could think of was the harem and your face. The life that had delighted me such a short time before began to seem pointless and even infuriating. I hated the girls' chatter, since it interrupted me when I was creating a nice daydream about meeting you. I was tempted to speak roughly to my completely harmless admirer, just because he couldn't compete with your beauty. I felt like a madwoman, Hotohori-sama.  
  
"I began to live as cheaply as possible so that I could buy beautiful silk for myself. I rose at first light of dawn every day and began to create gowns I could wear in the harem and even in the court, if I were chosen Empress. Whenever I wasn't at work or stitching on my special gowns, I spent time in marketplaces where I hoped to make contact with some of the maids who worked in the harem. I thought if I did them favors, perhaps one of them would sneak me into the harem. I know. Not a sensible plan. I think I knew that even then, but...  
  
"One day, about two months after the star festival, I decided that I truly must be mad. I resolved to forget this obsession entirely. For the first time since coming to the capital, I took out my boys' clothing. Late that night I slipped out of my room, determined to stay up all night and exhaust myself utterly. I ran from one side of the capital to the other that night, I think. If I saw a cart or a market stall or anything that wasn't permanently fixed, I would pick it up and slowly put it back down, repeating the action until my arms trembled. Then I would run again. I arrived back at my rooms before first light so as not to be seen arriving as a boy. But I still wasn't tired enough, so I dressed as a woman and went to the seamstress shop for the day's work. The next night, and the next day, I repeated the actions of the first night and day, and I did the same things on the third day and night. I cannot explain where the energy I felt came from -- I thought it must be from madness, but perhaps it was Suzaku-shin, opposing my will. If so, I suppose I have proved that I am more stubborn than Suzaku-shin, because by the fourth night I could barely drag myself home from the shop before falling into a deathly sleep.  
  
"But while my body slept, my spirit seemed to roam. I found myself inside the palace grounds, in a pleasure garden inside the western wall of the palace grounds. Hotohori-sama, I did not see that garden for the first time until I became Nuriko-sei and left the harem, but the garden in my dream was exactly like the true garden here. And, Hotohori-sama, you were in the garden, though it was still winter and even the bravest buds had not ripened yet. I don't suppose... do you know the garden I mean?"  
  
"Yes," he replied, almost in a whisper. "It is the garden with the trained pear treas?"  
  
"Desu. The branches are lovely, the day after a light snowfall, aren't they?"  
  
"I find them so -- that is why I sometimes visit that garden in the winter."  
  
"Hm. Well, I just stood and stared at you, at first, and you didn't seem to know I was there. Then you did notice me, and you spoke kindly to me and asked if I was lost. I couldn't answer, not aloud, I don't know why. I was painfully aroused, and I was visibly trembling with cold. So you took my hand and led me inside. I'm sure you intended to hand me off to a servant but none came. It seemed as if the palace was totally deserted. Even then, though I had never been here or seen the unceasing bustle of palace life, I knew that something was wrong, and that there was something we had to do together, someone we had to protect.  
  
"But even as I recognized that thought, you were continuing to guide me through the deserted palace, until we came to this room. And although I never saw this room until I left the harem, I tell you it matches the room in my dream perfectly. You guided me to a room behind this one and gave me a warm bed-robe to put on, to replace the summer gown I was wearing (and this was the first time I noticed my own clothing, though I could have told you every detail of what you were wearing).  
  
"When I came out, you offered me tea, though I still saw no servants. And you sat next to me and wrapped me in a warm overrobe as I drank the tea. I... couldn't look at you, because looking at you made me ache. But I couldn't *not* look at you, either. Even though I had only glimpsed you as you were carried by, in the dream I saw you as accurately as I see you now.  
  
"I don't know what you saw when you looked at me, but you reached out and took the empty teacup from my hand. And you took my face in both your hands and kissed me. And your hands went to my hair and loosened it totally, and you pulled me against you. It was... so real. I could feel .. everything..."  
  
Hotohori shifted uncomfortably, only partly because the story had taken a disturbing turn. Though the story heated his blood, the look on Nuriko's face caused him to shiver in atavistic fear. For a moment, he was unsure who looked at him from her eyes. "Nuriko-sei?" he asked softly. When she neither responded to his question nor went on with the story, he poured a fresh cup of warm tea and wrapped her hands around it. He was surprised by how cold her hands were.  
  
After another long moment, she raised the tea and drank, and when she raised her eyes to his again, he was reassured to see the familiar mocking expression of Nuriko at her worst. "Where was I, Hotohori-sama?" she asked with a slight show of dramatic indecision. He wondered if she was masking a real moment of uncertainty.  
  
"Still not inside my harem, which, if I recall, was supposed to be the point of this story," he replied drily.  
  
"Well, then, I suppose I ought to leave out irrelevant details, ne? I will just say that after my first attempt, I did not try Suzako-shin's patience a second time. I decided to embrace my madness, if that's what it was, and do my best to find a way into your household.  
  
"As I have already mentioned, I spent a great deal of time and effort meeting and getting to know some of the maids who worked for ladies in the harem. I did every favor I could think of for these maids. I think I was hoping one of them would smuggle me in somehow, though I didn't dare ask such a thing. But instead, a maid approached me to see if I would help smuggle her mistress *out* of the harem.  
  
"It seems the lady -- we can call her, um, Ruby Hawk, had decided to become a Buddhist nun. Her parents were dead-set against the idea. They had sent their daughter to the capital to make her an Empress, not a nun. But Ruby Hawk had had enough of unrequited love for the most eligible man in Konan. She was pining away inside the harem and desperately wanted to go to a peaceful nunnery.  
  
"The ladies of the harem also wanted to help her leave. After all, there is not a lot of personal space inside a harem -- one truly depressed woman can make everyone else unhappy. Usually in these circumstances a way is found for the woman to leave. The usual solution is to make an excellent marriage for her. Since this also means an excellent bride-price paid to her parents, they can usually be persuaded to abandon their dreams of joining the imperial family. But such a solution did not appeal to Ruby Hawk, and so she was effectively trapped.  
  
"After months of unhappiness, Ruby Hawk had resolved to defy her parents and leave the harem. However, she couldn't just disappear without bringing scandal on all the ladies, and on you as well, Hotohori-sama. After all, part of the duty of the Emperor is to assure that women sent to his harem do not go missing! No one wanted such a scandal, not even Ruby Hawk, whose sense of responsibility was very strong. Yet she was determined to leave your harem, if only she could figure out how.  
  
"That is when the maid thought of me. She felt sure that I wanted to enter the harem but could not be accepted. Yet she saw no obvious flaw in me. She reasoned that, If I were to slip in to the harem, her lady could slip out, and no one -- particularly the lady's parents -- would be the wiser. The maid herself would remain in the harem as my personal maid, since she could not follow her mistress into the nunnery. And as my maid she could intercept any letters from her lady's parents, convey them to the lady herself, and bring her answers back to be sent by me. She was an excellent -- and devious -- maid, and I was sorry to lose her to a first-rate suitor a few months later.  
  
"Ruby Hawk knew a good plan when she heard one, and she managed to convince the ladies of the harem to agree to the idea. Her strongest argument was that, since no one but the ladies and their maids was allowed inside the harem, there was no reason to fear scandal if the switch was made. Once she had the agreement of her sisters in the harem, Ruby Hawk sent her maid to see if I would agree to the plan.  
  
"Of course, this was the perfect -- perhaps the only -- solution to my problem as well. Although I had no letters of introduction, no accomplishments except sewing, and no possible way to pass a physical examination, as "Ruby Hawk", I would have already passed those hurdles. I agreed immediately, and a few nights later, we managed the substitution. Ruby Hawk came out dressed as her maid, and I brought her to my room for the night. The next morning, I slipped in dressed as the maid, and the next evening, the maid came out to conduct her mistress to the nunnery where she was expected. I have no idea how they explained things to the abbess of the nunnery, but apparently they managed, for I never heard any rumors about Ruby Hawk, or about a maiden leaving the harem.  
  
"So it was that I finally was able to enter your harem. And since Ruby Hawk and I are rather similar in coloring and build, I even acquired a great many additional gowns that the maid fitted to me. Once I entered the harem, the maid explained that sewing would be very strange behavior for a noblewoman of my -- assumed -- stature. I hated to give up needlework, but everything has a price."  
  
She fell silent for a moment, and Hotohori thought she had finished. But after a moment she laughed quietly.  
  
"Everything has a price, Hotohori-sama. And as it turned out, there was a price to pay for the substitution we made. We made one small miscalculation when we decided that no one outside the harem would notice the switch."  
  
She paused for a moment, looking rather grimly at the exquisite platter in front of her. In the momentary silence, both of them heard the sound of the guards outside changing shift. Nuriko looked up in surprise then, and sighed softly. "Hotohori-sama, if you permit, I think perhaps I had better leave you to get some sleep. Everyone is so busy these days, it would be unfair of me to steal more of your sleeping time."  
  
He was reluctant to let her go, but he couldn't help but notice that he was really very fatigued. And he did have a busy day tomorrow. He had been accustomed for years now to put his duties as emperor before his personal desires; this didn't seem to be the time to break that pattern.  
  
"Of course, lady," he agreed graciously, rising so that she could rise, and escorting her gallantly to the door. "But ... perhaps you would agree to finish the story when we both have even a small amount of leisure? I have found your company... more fascinating than I could have expected.  
  
"You flatter me, Hotohori-sama. But I am -- always -- yours to command."  
  
With those mocking (he hoped) words, she bowed herself out and closed the door with a small flourish. He waited for several minutes, listening to her slippers tapping away down the hallway. It was almost too much effort to walk back to his bed, and he fell asleep almost immediately... to dream about Nuriko's hair flowing over his hands... 


	2. Konan Nights, ch 2

The next day, Hotohori was occupied with war councils for the entire morning, and Nuriko, he presumed, was busily preparing for the Hokan expedition. He had a brief court session to hear petitions around midday, and had a small meal brought to him while he went through the paperwork needed to document his decisions about those petitions. With one thing and another, it was mid-afternoon before he found himself with even a few minutes of free time to consider the story he had heard the night before.  
  
He found himself both disturbed and intrigued by the story, and by Nuriko's manner of telling it. He understood her infatuation well enough, for he had seen a great deal of it since assuming the throne. He was reluctant for many reasons to allow her to meet with him so privately again. It was unfair to her, since no matter what her personal feelings might be -- or his, for that matter -- she and he were Suzaku-shichi-sei, and that precluded any other bonds between them. Moreover, as she had inadvertently pointed out, he could not afford scandal, particularly at a time when he must have every bit of popular support to wage war if need be. Neither as Suzaku's servant, nor as Konan's Emperor, could he afford a liaison with Nuriko.  
  
Still, he found himself remembering the strange feeling he had had, that Nuriko-sei was ... not Nuriko-sei. That required investigation, surely. If it was Suzaku-shin's doing, that was one thing -- though he wasn't sure exactly what it might mean. Nothing threatening, surely. But Suzaku-shin's enemies had already infiltrated the ranks of Suzaku's champions more than once, and he could not afford to assume that they were not trying to subvert Nuriko-sei.  
  
After a few moments of hard thought, he wrote out two invitations and called in his major-domo, Chin concerning their delivery. Chin was as bland as any Buddha as he took the messages from the emperor's hand. Later, during an afternoon session of court, Chin appeared discreetly to let the emperor know that the responses had been affirmative.  
  
So it was that, after evening court had concluded a very long day, Hotohori found himself preparing for an equally long evening. In the outer chamber, a pleasant dinner table for three had been laid out. Hotohori passed into the dressing chamber, where servants helped him remove his court garb. He saw that Chin had laid out relatively formal evening dress for this small entertainment, and after a moment of frowning thought, Hotohori agreed to Chin's choice. Perhaps a little formality would prevent Nuriko from being quite so... informal in her choice of conversational topics. Though, unless Nuriko truly had been posessed, he rather doubted any such subtle hints would work.  
  
At the appointed hour, Nuriko arrived, already chatting with Chichiri, who had probably met her on the way to the Emperor's rooms. They sat down to a much less intimate dinner than that of the previous night. The servants remained in the room until the last sweets had been served and consumed. Hotohori thought he detected Chin's hand in the manner of service offered, and smiled to himself.  
  
But despite years of practice at court banquets, Hotohori found himself losing track of the conversation. He felt compelled to examine everything Nuriko said, which made him too preoccupied to respond properly. Worse, Nuriko seemed to sense that something she was doing was causing him concern, and she gradually became silent, leaving Chichiri's chatter to fill the empty conversational space.  
  
In a last ditch attempt to save the evening, Hotohori made an effort to listen to Chichiri's words. The monk seemed to be in the midst of a rambling story about a pair of tanuki brothers who guarded a treasure. "But although they were brothers, no da, their skills were very different. Inken-sama was the first to perceive a threat -- a spirit rain that would dissolve and destroy the treasure they guarded. He immediately shifted form, no da, becoming a sheet of crystal that was impervious to the rain.  
  
"Kikai-sama, however, had perceived no threat, for his talents were in physical combat, na no da. When his brother vanished, Kikai-sama did not realize that he had transformed to fight a threat, for even tanuki cannot recognize each other when they have shifted their forms! Instead, he drew his sword and was about to shatter the crystal shield, when..."  
  
At this point, Hotohori found himself sinking back into his own concerns. It was only when he realized Chichiri had stood up (and without asking permission), that Hotohori's attention refocused on his rather pathetic dinner party. "I must say good-night, no da, " the monk observed cheerfully. Hotohori was about to rise in protest, but Chichiri was already halfway out the door.  
  
"Hotohori-sei," he called back softly, "be at ease -- your concern is not necessary, na no da!" And then he was gone, leaving Hotohori to face a bewildered, and apparently unhappy, Nuriko.  
  
"What was that about... if I may be permitted to ask?"  
  
"Just a question I had asked Chichiri about earlier today," he lied convincingly. (Another skill picked up at court dinners, he thought, and one he would rather not have acquired.) "I'm sorry I've been such bad company during dinner. I'm afraid I was preoccupied with a problem that came up at court today. Please forgive me?"  
  
After one probing glance, she fell in with his invitation to lighten the mood. "Of course, Hotohori-sama! I am yours to command -- though I need no command in this case. It is impossible to remain upset with so beautiful a man."  
  
"Sometimes I wish I were as ugly as ... as Taitsukun-sama."  
  
She laughed then, startling him out of his momentary self-pity. "No you don't, Hotohori-sama. I've seen you preen, you know."  
  
He had to smile as well. "Caught out, I see. Well, I suppose you're right. But... sometimes I feel as if I am... hidden inside a beautiful package. I wonder if anyone sees me at all."  
  
"Well, I suppose that depends, Hotohori-sama. Your simple subjects -- the peasants, the merchants, even the small nobles -- all those people who will see you perhaps twice in their lifetime, if they are fortunate -- those people love you for your face, to be sure. Though even they must know that their lives would be much worse if you governed poorly. But your great nobles know your worth, Hotohori-sama. I have heard the maidens of your harem discuss your statecraft, and your domestic policies. They all know much more than I do about such things, for they were raised to rule, if only a provincial stronghold."  
  
"You are a terrible flatterer, Nuriko-sei."  
  
"I think I heard you observe once that true words are not flattery, Hotohori-sama." He waved a hand to concede the argument, then, and she took it as an invitation to continue. "You work too hard, you know. Surely your very able counsellors are able to function without your oversight for a few hours?"  
  
He had to laugh. "I wish they would, Nuriko-sei. They are scholars, every one -- that is how they are chosen, ne? And like all scholars, they absolutely refuse to step beyond the area of their expertise. It is maddening, sometimes, that they come to me with matters they could decide for themselves, if they were willing to take a few risks. But it seems only the Emperor is allowed to take risks. Not that I could avoid taking risks -- it is part of the job, I suppose, and there's no way around the fact that the smallest wrong decision I make can have large, unfortunate consequences." He looked grim for a moment. "Usually for someone else," he admitted quietly. Once again he seemed to have shattered the good mood that had almost prevailed.  
  
He looked back at Nuriko's face, and was surprised to see only thoughtful sympathy. He wondered what he had been expecting -- irony or courtly distraction? For that moment, he was utterly confident that Nuriko herself sat before him, no matter what had looked out of her eyes the night before.  
  
Her next words were not what he expected. "Hotohori-sama," she said thoughtfully, "how much do you concern yourself with the admistration of your harem?"  
  
"My... harem?" He took a moment to gather his scattered thoughts. "Well, um... when my mother died, I examined the two men she had appointed to supervise the harem as a matter of course. I examined all her choices as a matter of course," he added somewhat grimly. "In this case, I kept one man in his position and replaced the other with someone I thought would be more... solicitous of the ladies' comfort."  
  
"And you have made no changes since then?"  
  
"No. They petitioned me for decisions almost every day at first, but I had more important concerns -- forgive my bluntness, lady! -- and told them so. Why?" He looked slightly alarmed. "Have they been administering the harem badly?"  
  
"No, Hotohori-sama, on the contrary. They have administered the harem exceptionally well. One of the administrators in fact... Well, I suppose you must know that, in the years since your mother's death, the harem administration has grown somewhat?"  
  
"Grown? I have appointed no one new."  
  
"Apparently, these ministers have taken that matter into their own hands as well. Don't worry -- they have appointed wisely, I think. In particular, three of the harem administrators at the present time are women."  
  
"Women? Surely that is very ... unconventional?"  
  
"On the contrary, Hotohori-sama. Consider the problem from their point of view. The harem administrators you appointed, though they are doubtless excellent managers, are men. They cannot enter the harem; it would be a source of friction with the rest of the court at best, and a scandal at worst. While your mother lived, she could inspect the harem -- though I suspect she probably delegated the task to her ladies. When she died, the administrators had little choice but to appoint some of those ladies to physically oversee matters in the harem."  
  
"Surely one lady would suffice!"  
  
"Probably your administrators feared that one woman might have favorites among the maidens of the harem, and might distribute favors unfairly. In any case, there are now three ladies and certainly more than two men involved in administering the harem. There is a lot to do after all. At any given time, there about forty maidens in your harem. When you add in the maids and other servants, the population of the harem is greater than that of the town I grew up in. It is really impossible for two men to administer every aspect of a small city of women, even if the women themselves were free to see to their own concerns.  
  
"Consider also that every month, one or two young ladies arrive to join the harem. These ladies must be examined to determine if they will be admitted. Those who are not admitted present domestic political problems, for your harem administrators cannot offend your noble subjects who have offered their daughters to your household. Nearly every month, the time comes for a lady to depart the harem, usually to make a good marriage. Since the lady is not free to speak for herself in the matter, the administrators of the harem must negotiate for her, unless her parents are actually in the capital. Records must also be kept -- of the comings and goings, certainly, but also of all the silks, scrolls of poetry, brushes and ink, and other worldly goods needed by the ladies of the harem. And most important of all, the maidens of the harem must be kept informed of what occurs at court by means of a daily precis of important activity. After all, whichever lady becomes Empress, she will need to be prepared to step seamlessly into the life of the court. So, you see that the proper management of your harem is no small matter, Hotohori-sama, and you are very fortunate that it is handled so well!"  
  
He laughed softly. "You always surprise me, Nuriko-sei. I can see that you're right, though -- handling ambitious parents probably requires first-rate diplomacy, ne?"  
  
"Mmm. And that isn't the only challenge. Have you ever thought of the ways a harem could be ... abused? Perhaps I should tell you the story of a lady we might call Crystal Sparrow -- it would be good for you to hear it, I think."  
  
"Another story? Only if you consent to leave out the unrestful details this time! I can't afford to lose more sleep over your stories, Lady!"  
  
She sighed. "This is not a restful story, I fear. Though it is a very different kind of story from the one last night."  
  
"Which," he reminded her, "you haven't actually finished."  
  
"Well, as it happens, Crystal Sparrow has something to do with the end of last night's story, so, if your Majesty permits..."  
  
"By all means, then, mistress storyteller. Tell me about Crystal Sparrow."  
  
She gave a small bow of acquiescence, just to remind him that he was the emperor. He wanted to be irritated by that, but he found that, despite the suspicions that Chichiri had not quite allayed, he was looking forward to whatever she had to tell him.  
  
"Well, then. Crystal Sparrow was a noble maiden not unlike the ladies in your own harem. She was lovely, accomplished, well-trained, and a fine dancer. The difference between her and your ladies is, that Crystal Sparrow was born in Kotou.  
  
"In due course, she was sent to join the harem of the -- at that time very young -- emperor of Kotou. He is a good deal older than you are, of course, but at that time he was barely fifteen, and he had just acceded to his father's throne. As you know, his father died unexpectedly, without making provisions for a successor, and it was fortunate for the people of Kotou that he left only one credible claimant to the throne, or a vicious civil war might have ensued.  
  
"Crystal Sparrow says that, according to adult conversations she heard growing up, the young emperor of Kotou was not a bad man, though people worried from the start that he would not be as strong as his father. Worse, he had no strong counsellors to guide his early decisions, because his father had controlled every detail of the realm in his own hands. From those who served him, he demanded obedience first and foremost. Surely you have studied the reign of the old emperor of Kotou, Hotohori-sama?"  
  
"As a matter of course, yes. The general view is that he was a notably bloodthirsty emperor with a taste for his neighbors' territory, but an able administrator -- in a brutal way. Not entirely unlike my father," he added grimly.  
  
"It was your mother then, who created the burocratic machinery by which you rule?"  
  
"Mostly. There has always been a civil service, of course. But the advisors of my father's time were a great deal more... circumspect... than I prefer."  
  
"Well, then, you will understand the problems the realm of Kotou faced when an inexperienced boy assumed the throne. The new emperor, of course, wanted very much to follow in his father's footsteps. But while the father had ruled everyone, including his military commanders, with an iron fist, the son lacked both the self-confidence and the remorseless brutality needed to rule in that way.  
  
"To make matters worse, the lad had little patience for the day-to-day tasks of imperial government, and no one around him suited to teaching him his job. After all, his advisors had risen to their positions under a man who expected them to keep their opinions to themselves and follow his orders to the letter. They were a collection of middle-aged errand boys, for the most part.  
  
"So it was that the first few years of the reign of the emperor of Kotou, unlike your own, were marked by a series of bloody rebellions among his father's conquered subjects, as well increasing disorder within the central realm. That is when the realm was rescued -- as the nobles saw it -- by a general named Nakago."  
  
Hotohori drew a sharp breath, and she smiled humorlessly. "Yes, one of the Seiryuu-shichi-sei. We've heard more than enough of him of late, ne?  
  
"Nakago slipped effortlessly into the state machinery the old emperor had left. He had the same talent for inspiring mingled fear and respect and the same ability to keep track of endless details within his personal control. In addition, he was quite possibly a more adroit strategist than the old emperor -- at least his victories generally cost fewer of his own soldiers' lives. The young emperor was willing -- indeed, happy -- to turn over military matters to Nakago. And once the occupied borderlands had been pacified, it seemed quite natural to turn over to the general various matters in the civil administration as well. In due course, he added the imperial to his charge.  
  
"Now, the Kotou imperial harem was rather different than yours even before Nakago took a hand in it. It had been under the supervision of the dowager empress, as the custom is, but as you may know, she was a weak, whining woman who could not even keep order within her own household. She had no time, energy, or talent to devote to the smooth operation of the harem, and she did not find someone else to take on the task. As a result, no effective examinations were created to weed out those who entered the harem to advance a family ambition. Girls as young as six were accepted into the harem, since that was easier than refusing their powerful families. The ladies of the harem were sequestered, not just physically, but in every way, from the life of the court. Lacking any information about the wider world to occupy their minds, they fell into squabbles that became rivalries that led to hatreds and occasionally, even injury. That is how Crystal Sparrow describes the harem in the year or so before Nakago took a hand, and that is what your own harem might become, without the guidance of good administrators.  
  
"When the ladies of the Kotou imperial harem first heard the rumor that their lives were to be supervised, not by the dowager, but by one of the realm's generals, they were very much afraid for their future. But in fact, things gradually seemed to get better once the dowager was ousted. The young girls were removed from the harem -- presumably to be sent back to the parents as was proper. The main partisans of the worst of the ongoing feuds were also removed from the harem, and rumor had it they had been punished with terms of service as lower servants within the palace. This had a chilling effect on those engaged in other rivalries. Order, if not affection, was restored within a few months of the change of administration. And then, something even more encouraging happened. The emperor, who had ignored the maidens in the harem since his accession, began to request one or more often several, maidens to attend on him at most evening court functions.  
  
"In due course, the emperor included Crystal Sparrow in one of his evening entertainments, along with three other girls. She was subtle, but not shy about sizing up her competition, distasteful as you may find such things. One of the girls was very like herself, a maiden of excellent family with every reason to be confident in her appeal. A second Sparrow immediately named Yasuppoi, for nothing about her was subtle. The third didn't seem to belong among the rest of them at all. She was a mouse of a girl, really, white-faced with strain beneath her makeup. Sparrow wondered if she was ill, but hadn't dared to refuse the emperor's request.  
  
"As they walked to the gathering, of course they were careful to chatter becomingly in quiet voices, for that is expected. But Sparrow was surprised when the noble maiden she respected made a special effort to chat with her about the flowers in a garden they passed. And she was even more surprised when the girl whispered that Nezumi-chan -- the frightened girl -- had attended the emperor before. Sparrow forgot to be charming for a moment as she stared at the other girl, whose eyes seemed to hold some sort of warning. But the moment was broken immediately, as the other girl laughed as if Sparrow had said something clever, and wandered off to chat with Yasuppoi.  
  
"The four maidens, exquisitely gowned and perfumed, were conducted into a banqueting hall more sumptuous than any they had seen before. They were brought to the emperor's table, and invited to feed him with their own hands. It was rather an odd meal, really -- something like playing a part onstage, watched and judged by a couple of hundred courtiers who had assembled to see what entertainment might be presented at the high table. Crystal Sparrow was somewhat disppointed, for the emperor clearly did not want to engage in sensible conversation. In fact, he soon ignored all but one of the maidens -- Yasuppoi. Not surprisingly in Sparrow's opinion, she turned out to have a natural talent for simpering flattery.  
  
"At the end of the meal, the emperor dismissed Crystal Sparrow and the other maiden of high birth, but asked Yasuppoi and Nezumi-chan to attend him after dinner. The two rejected maidens retired to a discreet distance, but of course they could not leave the hall before the emperor did, so they simply watched their two fortunate companions. Yasuppoi, true to form, managed to puff his ego a bit as she accepted his request. Nezumi-chan, however, fell to the emperor's feet, weeping and begging that he release her from his invitation.  
  
"That is when Crystal Sparrow made the greatest mistake in her life, though it seemed natural to her at the time. All her childhood training had been in managing the affairs of her family, and that included smoothing out social problems that might create disordered relationships. So she returned to the high table without begging the emperor's permission, and she spoke to the emperor without waiting for his acknowledgement. She explained that the young lady at his feet had been terribly ill all day, and really did need to retire. And she gathered the girl up, helped her stand, and prepared to lead her away.  
  
"Before she could even realize her error, she felt herself being seized by the emperor's guards. Nezumi-chan, who was now weeping loudly, was also seized, and the two of them were removed rather brutally from the hall.  
  
"You look shocked, Heika, yet you shouldn't be. Such things are common, not only beyond our borders, but in our history as well, if my childhood lessons were accurate."  
  
He was saddened by her choice of his title over his name, but he couldn't stop to point that out. It was more important to explain the error of her observation. "An emperor's first duty is to keep order in his realm, and most of all in his court," he observed firmly. "The course the emperor of Kotou followed seems to have been calculated to create disorder, unless he was simply too inept to understand what he did."  
  
"Well, Hotohori-sama, perhaps disorder was not what he intended to create. You will see what I mean if I may continue?" After a moment of internal debate, he nodded. Trying to explain how to be an emperor was probably not a useful exercise, anyway.  
  
"The two maidens were deposited abruptly into a small office, and the guards withdrew without offering a single word in answer to their questions. The office contained only one chair, behind a camp-desk such as a field-officer might use. Although Sparrow considered persuading Nezumi-chan to sit down, for she looked truly ill by now, she decided on a cautious course. So the girls simply stood in the small area in front of the desk.  
  
"After a fairly short wait, the door opened and Nakago entered. He took his seat without seeming even to notice the two women, and proceeded to busy himself with paperwork for perhaps a quarter of an hour. He called in an aide, who took the papers away without comment, and then sat for several minutes, apparently pondering something, before he looked up and met the eyes of the two maidens.  
  
"'Now then,' he said calmly. 'I didn't happen to attend tonight's banquet, so I only have secondhand accounts of what occurred. Please enlighten me.'  
  
"Crystal Sparrow, as she had been taught, took a moment to order her thoughts, but she was prevented from speaking when Nezumi-chan ran to throw herself at Nakago's feet and began to plead incoherently. After a moment, Nakago motioned to Crystal Sparrow to raise the weeping girl up and help her collect herself.  
  
"'If I understand you, you are begging to be released from the harem, to return to your parents' house, tonight, in fact right now.'  
  
"The girl began to weep again, but Crystal Sparrow, at an impatient look from Nakago, quieted her.  
  
"'Surely you see that that you cannot leave the capital until you have attended on the emperor as he requested,' Nakago observed reasonably. 'His majesty wanted to insist that you were already guilty of treasonous noncompliance, but I reassured him that you would of course comply with his request.' After a pause, he added pointedly, 'I do not care to be proven wrong in that assurance.'  
  
"He waited, apparently expecting another outburst, but Nezumi-chan, although she grew horribly pale, remained quiet. After a long silence, Crystal Sparrow dared to speak. 'If... if she attends on him tonight, might she leave in the morning?'  
  
"Nakago regarded her with increased interest, then nodded. 'If the emperor releases her in the morning -- and he has never yet asked a maiden to attend him during his daily duties -- then I will have her conducted to her home tomorrow.'  
  
"When the other girl made no reply, Crystal Sparrow, after a glance to see if Nakago would object, began to plead with the girl to do as the emperor wished. She even went so far as to promise to help her pack her things to go home. After a long time, the girl nodded stiffly. Crystal Sparrow glanced again at Nakago, to see if he had observed this, and was surprised to see a small, amused smile on his face. 'Very good,' he assured her. 'As your reward, you can accompany me as we present her to the emperor, hmmm?'  
  
"Well, at least she could keep the poor girl from doing herself any more damage, Crystal Sparrow thought as she unobtrusively guided Nezumi-chan to follow Nakago as he left the office.  
  
"The three of them, with a pair of very silent guards following, made their way to the emperor's suite. Crystal Sparrow was not entirely surprised to hear the giggles of Yasuppoi as they waited for the door to be opened. She was not expecting that, when the door opened, she would see Yasuppoi lying naked on the bed, her wrists and ankles tied to bedposts. She thought she heard a very small sob from Nezumi-chan, but at least the girl made no other sound, and did not try to flee.  
  
"'Ah,' the emperor observed, 'so she has decided not to flout our command. Tell me, Nakago -- do you think she fears me too much, or not enough?'  
  
"'I am afraid I must leave such decisions to Heika's refined judgement,' Nakago replied.  
  
"'And the other one? She will be punished?'  
  
"By an effort of will, Crystal Sparrow remained utterly still. She suddenly felt that nothing was as important as escaping the emperor's attention at this moment.  
  
"'I will take care of it, Heika, when I have your leave to withdraw.'  
  
"'Go then. I need to decide what to do with the little mouse here. Come here, little mouse,' he crooned. As the door closed, Crystal Sparrow saw the girl take a reluctant step toward the emperor.  
  
"Nakago motioned for her to fall into step beside her, and he set off in a direction different than the one they had come from. Crystal Sparrow had seen very little of the palace, of course, but she didn't think they were walking toward the harem, either. She wanted to ask where they were going, and whether she was indeed to be punished for what seemed to her to be very proper actions, but Nakago seemed preoccupied. She decided it would be a supremely bad idea to interrupt him and possibly make him angry.  
  
"'What do you think of your friend's situation now?' he asked after they had walked some distance from the royal wing.  
  
"'I think... it is not for me to concern myself with the emperor's bedchamber,' she temporized.  
  
"'Ah, you grow cautious. Too bad it took you so long.' He remained silent for the rest of the walk, which ended in a quarter of the palace reserved for high-level ministers. He opened the door and motioned for her to precede him.  
  
"'Welcome to my quarters, Lady,' he said 'I am afraid you will not be returning to the harem. I am very much afraid your friend won't, either.'  
  
"'But you said...'  
  
"'I spoke truth, but only about the past,' he explained. 'Our emperor has been growing less restrained in his appetites of late. It is likely he will damage your friend when he uses her tonight. It is likely he will use her up.'  
  
"'But our parents...' she whispered.  
  
"'Oh, don't worry. Your parents will receive whatever reports are necessary to keep them proud of you and loyal to the emperor. You wouldn't want to destroy their faith in His Majesty, would you? Come here, please, and help me off with my armor. Because of the actions of your foolish friend, I have not yet had time to get rid of the filth of the army camps where I spent the day. You will help me bathe and relax before retiring. You will begin now.'  
  
"Numbly, she did as he told her, not understanding how she had come to this."  
  
It was at this point that Hotohori would have spoken out to stop Nuriko's tale. But when he met her eyes, once again he saw a stranger. This time, the stranger was watching him -- assessing him, perhaps. And, there seemed to be a red flicker around Nuriko's body, though he could not see it clearly.  
  
"Who..." he asked.  
  
"That is of no concern to you, Konan no Koutei." The voice was Nuriko's, but deeper, perhaps more masculine. "No, I am not Suzaku-shin. She has lent me her light as a sign that I am not of your enemies. I have no interest in your ridiculous quest, or in your foolish little Suzaku no Miko. Let us say only that Her wishes and Mine correspond in this -- the Konan-koku must endure, and what you have built here must not perish."  
  
"But Nuriko..."  
  
"This one is unharmed. Suzaku would not let me damage Her tools, ne? But think on this, Konan no Koutei: Tools may be broken if they are used too hard, or if the material they must work on is obdurate.  
  
"No! Do not think to kneel before me, Konan no Koutei. This one would think it odd, surely. Moreover, I will hear no more petitions from you to save your realm. That is your job, and you must see to it very soon! This one knows what you must know, to save the realm. If you close your ears now, as you have done often before, be assured Konan-koku will perish. That is all I have to say to you, and you may tell your nagging priest as much as well!"  
  
With those words, the red flicker died and Nuriko's head dropped to the table in front of her. Chin was there immediately, followed quickly by servants with warm and cold wet cloths and strong spirits. A rather embarrassed Nuriko was soon revived and declining further help, though Hotohori insisted that a guard accompany her to her own rooms.  
  
When his servants had dressed him for bed and brought a warm flask of rice wine, he called Chin back for a final moment.  
  
"Did you... see anything odd about Nuriko-sei tonight?" he asked, after a moment of thought.  
  
For a very long moment, Chin looked as bland as if he had not heard the question, and Hotohori feared he had put the man in the impossible position of admitting he eavesdropped on the emperor's private interviews. Then Chin dropped his eyes. "Heika, I do not know what I saw. I think that I will purchase a stick of incense tomorrow, however, to burn at the altar of the Nameless Gods."  
  
"Thank you," Hotohori whispered. After a final glance at his master's face, Chin withdrew. 


	3. Konan Nights, ch 3

The next morning, Hotohori was pleased to see that Chichiri was the first name on his list of audiences. But when the priest arrived, he sat down and immediately began to detail the state of preparations for the Hokan expedition. Hotohori listened as politely as he could manage -- it was information he needed, after all.   
  
As was often the case, Chichiri had chosen to wear his true face for this private audience. Hotohori wondered if he meant it as a lesson to the emperor about appearances and reality. Or perhaps he only liked to see the emperor's face and the mask impeded that. Hotohori allowed himself a mental chuckle at how often he had asked himself those same two questions -- probably, that was Chichiri's intent in the first place...  
  
As soon as Chichiri had finished his report and received Hotohori's decisions as needed, he requested permission to withdraw. Hotohori asked him to wait a moment, then gave instructions for his clerk to make a clean copy of the salient points of the interview and leave it with his other papers on the matters. When the clerk had gone off to do so, he turned back to Chichiri, only to see that he was now masked, and regarding the emperor with great amusement.  
  
Hotohori found he had to clear his throat before he could begin. "Last night..."  
  
Chichiri overrode him, a habit Hotohori always found unsettling, since no one but Chichiri felt free to interrupt him. "Hotohori-sei, surely that matter is resolved, no da! I promise you I detect no taint of our enemies about Nuriko-sei. You may depend on him as you have in the past."  
  
"Are you aware..."   
  
"It was not precisely a secret visitation, Hotohori-sei. I could not fail to be aware of it -- but I was very likely meant to notice, no da."  
  
"Do you know what, or who, has taken an interest in our affairs?"  
  
Chichiri shrugged. "Perhaps, na no da, or perhaps not. It hardly matters, no da. If I am wrong, I would not care to deceive you with my error, no da. And if I am correct, then I have been invited in clear terms not to inform you. There is no percentage in defying gods, na no da."  
  
"So then, you have no guidance to offer in this matter?"  
  
"Hotohori-sei, we are Suzaku-shin's servants, you and I. In concerns that touch on such duties, I am honored to offer counsel, no da. This matter, however, does not concern you as Hotohori-sei, but as Konan no Koutei, no da." The monk raised an eyebrow. "I have lived alone for many years, until Suzaku-shin insisted I make the acquaintance of Suzaku no miko. I know less than nothing about ruling an empire, na no da!"  
  
Hotohori had to admit the sense of that. Still he was reluctant to let his most reliable guide to the spiritual world walk out, when he felt so unsettled by Nuriko's visits. "Well, then, Chichiri-sei, here is another question. Do you think that Suzaku-shin can work her will through... erotic dreams?"  
  
Chichiri's masked face seemed to convulse with laughter then. "I think Suzaku-shin makes use of what she finds available, na no da! Considering your face and Nuriko-sei's propensities, I must suppose that erotic dreams could offer themselves for her use. Now then, I believe I am needed for remaining journey preparations, if I may withdraw, Heika no da?"  
  
Hotohori waved him out, irritated despite his best efforts. And he did wonder how Chichiri had deduced that it was Nuriko's erotic dreams that were wrorrying him -- he had meant to shield her.  
  
Just before the monk left, he turned to face the emperor for a final moment. "Surely it goes without saying, Heika, that the counsel of the gods is not to be lightly disregarded, na no da." With a small bow, he let himself out.  
  
Great. Yet another vote for continuing the rather disturbing story hours. Sighing, Hotohori turned to the next item on the list his clerks had prepared, then stopped. Surely that could wait long enough for him to write a short invitation to Nuriko-sei, ne?  
  
The rest of his day passed as nearly every day did, with audiences and councils and open court. It was a source of irritation to him that he seldom had a moment alone during the day. Even during the necessary breaks to eat and consider what he had heard, he was attended by clerks. And as for servants, well, even at night he was not out of their hearing. He decided he envied the other seishi this most of all, that they could simply walk away from daily concerns, even for a few moments.  
  
In all, it wasn't until just before evening court that he had a chance to summon Chin and give instructions about that night's dinner with Nuriko. When Chin did not depart immediately, Hotohori sighed. "What is it you want to say, Chin? If I'm about to make a dreadful social blunder, I trust you to make me aware of it!"  
  
The man looked distinctly unhappy being pressed into an advisory role, but he finally asked, "Heika, is it wise to meet with this woman so frequently? There may be... gossip."  
  
Hotohori sighed, feeling the first hint of a headache coming on. "I have no idea if it is wise, Chin. I believe it is necessary. Please do what you can to stem gossip, ne?" Chin bowed and withdrew. Within a few moments, another servant appeared with willowbark tea. Hotohori suppressed a sigh at yet another indication of how closely he was observed, and took a sip of the tea. Then he returned to his scheduled tasks.  
  
When he returned from evening court, he found that Chin had laid out a rather subdued evening robe for him. For a moment, Hotohori considered asking for something a little more flattering, but Chin was being rather stiff and Hotohori decided this was a good time to let the man have his way. With a purely mental sigh of regret, he allowed himself to be dressed and groomed.  
  
Nuriko, when she arrived, was rather plainly dressed as well. "Please forgive me, Hotohori-sei," she asked in her court beauty's voice, though he thought a little weariness underlay the fluttering. "I am afraid I had little time to dress after we solved the problem with the ship's masts. We suspect sabotage, I'm afraid. But the problem is solved, and Chichiri took some pains to assure that it would stay solved."  
  
He smiled and led her back to the table where a cold meal was laid out ready. "That is good to hear. Please, come and sit down. This tea may revive you a bit." When she had settled herself comfortably, he took up the conversational thread again. "Apparently it is to be a night for winter plumage, my lady. It appears that my wardrobe counsellor feels that the best way for me to avoid gossip is to dress as drably as a crow! Tell me, is it hideous?"  
  
"Hotohori-sama, if you posess a mirror, you know that you look stunning -- if perhaps a little severe -- in gray. Can I hope that I have not earned your eternal disfavor by so shamefully fainting at your table last night?"  
  
"Well, I have insisted that we have the evening to ourselves, as far as it can be managed."  
  
"I shall consider that a fine gesture of forgiveness, then, and a lovely gift. Thank you."  
  
He was ridiculously pleased, despite his better judgement. Still, there was something he needed to know. Taking a bite so she could begin, he pondered the best way to ask her, and settled on, "Are you quite recovered from last night?"  
  
"Completely. I don't know what happened, Hotohori-sama -- I have never fainted *accidentally* before." He had to laugh at the woeful tone of her voice, though he was still wondering how to get an answer to his real question.  
  
"So, you have no medical worries that would suggest I send a physician on this journey?"  
  
"None, Hotohori-sama! Perhaps I overtaxed my strength yesterday. That's all I can think of."  
  
Apparently, he decided, she remembered nothing of the visitation he found so disturbing. Well and good. For the time being, he saw no reason to tell her what had happened.  
  
"Well, then, Nuriko-sei. Perhaps you would be good enough to continue with the story you were telling me last night -- though I would ask you to leave out any revelations about exotic Kotou sexual practices. I'm afraid I don't have the stomach for them."  
  
She shrugged then, though a hint of her wicked smile was there. "As you command, Hotohori-sama. The truth is, I could wish Crystal Sparrow had been less forthcoming in her descriptions. I see no reason to share them with you." She paused then, and her eyes were troubled and inward-looking. He felt an almost irresistible urge to touch her hand in comfort. But he did not, though he wondered if he was being sensible or merely cowardly.  
  
"Well, then. Nakago made sure that Crystal Sparrow could not return to the harem, for on the first night she spent in his quarters, he took the essential qualification, her maidenhood. And from that night forward, she received a new education. She learned first to avoid blows, and then to avoid provoking the anger that produced those blows. She was a very good student, Hotohori-sama, and eventually she became adept at soothing almost any degree of fury. And of course, she learned to endure almost anything without giving outward sign of its effect on her. Eventually all this became automatic; she says she was relieved then, to stop feeling anything..."  
  
Hotohori was stunned by the suddenness of that revelation, as if he had taken a deep wound, and would feel the pain any moment now. Yet Nuriko, who was usually so well aware of his reaction to everything, gave no indication that she noticed his distress.  
  
"Sparrow lived in Nakago's quarters for three years, Hotohori-sama, and during that time she never set foot outside them. Even if she had dared, shame would have stopped her from walking in the palace where she had dreamed of being empress."  
  
"Did she ever consider suicide?" His voice was not quite steady, but he dared not disturb the lump in his throat.  
  
"I did not ask. If you ever meet her, and see the strength in her... well, I have named her for crystal, because in a way she was shattered, as you shall see. But I might equally have named her Diamond, for at her core she could not be defaced.  
  
"She had long stopped hoping for a way out when her life became immeasurably worse. Nakago brought in a rival, a girl who did everything possible to destroy the equilibrium Sparrow had created between herself and Nakago. But this was a rival she could not bring herself to harm. For her rival was a girl of ten."  
  
Hotohori gave a small cry, and Nuriko took his hand in hers and stroked it. "I wish I could spare you this listening, Hotohori-sama. I promise that it is relevant to our current situation. Perhaps you will understand if I explain that the girl's name was Soi."  
  
"Seiryuu-shichi-sei?" She nodded. He withdrew his hand then, ashamed both at his outburst and at the fact that she, unlike himself, had had the courage to offer comfort to a friend. "Go on, please," he said at length.  
  
"Crystal told me she wondered at the time if Soi had been one of the very young girls who had briefly been housed -- or perhaps warehoused -- in the harem. She says that she has induced some of your ministers to undertake inquiries, but without result. Wherever she came from, Soi was not innocent when she joined Nakago's small household. Soi incited Nakago to acts of cruelty that he had not previously attempted. And when Nakago was out attending to his duties, Soi tormented Sparrow in every way she could think of. She did not stop short of causing injury, for Sparrow would not fight back and Nakago seemed amused by the situation.  
  
"This torment reached its logical conclusion one day when Nakago was due to return from a campaign of conquest. Soi had managed to steal a small dagger from Nakago's panoply. She waited until she heard Nakago's voice giving final orders to the guards outside the door of his quarters, then she drew the dagger and stabbed Crystal Sparrow ... many times. When Nakago entered, Crystal Sparrow lay on the floor, bleeding heavily.  
  
"Crystal Sparrow says that, although she had been in agony when she fell, by the time Nakago entered she felt as if she was floating serenely above her body, and she could hear the conversation of Soi and Nakago, even though it didn't seem to concern her.  
  
"She says that Nakago was perfectly calm when he knelt down to check her body for life. And he was perfectly calm when he asked Soi for an explanation.  
  
"'I won't share you, ever!' is what Soi said. Sparrow says that she looked so much like a child then, with a child's fury and a child's petulence, that she would have forgiven her, if she had cared enough to consider it.  
  
"Nakago rose then, and nodded once. 'Very well, then,' he told the girl. 'If you can dispose of your rival without arousing scandal, I will promise not to take another.' And with that he turned and left his quarters.  
  
"Crystal Sparrow does not know what occured after that. It was many days later that she awoke, and perhaps months after that before she understood where she was. Somehow, she had been brought to a house of healing in Konan. When she asked for information about her rescuers, she was always treated kindly and given soothing potions. But she never received an answer. Later, when her native intelligence had begun to function again, she understood that it was much better not to learn about such matters, lest she somehow betray those who had helped her.  
  
"She was taken to another healing place to complete her recovery -- one I will tell you about later, perhaps. In due course, she decided to make her way to the capital, where she was taken as the second wife of a younger son of a very important noble family."  
  
"It seems less than she deserves, surely," Hotohori suggested in a pensive tone.  
  
"Well, you see... I am afraid that Soi did not confine her attentions to Sparrow's vital organs. Probably that is why she lived long enough to be found by whoever rescued her." When Hotohori still looked blank, Nuriko said gently, "Crystal Sparrow is always veiled, Hotohori-sama."  
  
Somehow, this made all the rest of the story real to Hotohori. He wondered what it said about him, that he could listen with his head to tales of rape and torture, but that disfigurement was vivid for him. After a moment's thought, he confided the question to Nuriko.  
  
"Well, I suppose it says that you are a man and an emperor, Hotohori-sama. Your imagination is constrained by what your experiences have made real -- that is natural enough."  
  
"I lead a sheltered life, is what you mean," he observed bitterly. "I sit and talk and talk and talk and I cannot prevent other people from suffering. I will be sitting and talking while you and the others accompany Miaka into danger. I cannot imagine why Suzaku-shin chose me in the first place."  
  
"I'm hardly one to ask about Suzaku-shin's choices, Hotohori-sama. She doesn't seem to consult me about anything. But, speaking for the shichi-sei, I can tell you that, while we would love to have your sword beside us and your good counsel always available -- well, Suzaku-shin seems to have an interest in Konan-koku's well-being. You are the emperor -- no one can stand in for you in these unsettled times. Aparently, Suzaku-shin wants you to do your job."  
  
"So I've been informed," he observed under his breath. "Well, as always, you manage to destroy any chance I have of wallowing in self-pity. So then, tell me how Crystal Sparrow figures in your own story, Nuriko-sei."  
  
"Well, as a junior wife of a younger son, Crystal Sparrow wasn't really needed to run her husband's family's household. Yet she had not been raised to idleness, and she knew herself to be an excellent manager. So she began to involve herself in public issues that affected the lives of noblewomen in the capital. You know, surely, that many women do their best to shape the opinion of powerful men, usually under cover of social entertainments, ne? In due course -- I don't know how it came about -- she became one of the Lady Administrators of the harem. It is due to her unfortunate experiences in the imperial harem of Kotou that she has had the foresight to safeguard your harem from problems that no one else might have thought of. She is a great asset to you, Hotohori-sama.  
  
"Unfortunately for me, it happened that, within the first week after my arrival, she made an unexpected inspection tour. She might not have noticed a different face -- as I say, there are always new faces, and a few known faces are always missing, for harem inspections occur only every few months. But the bustle of settling in and gown preparation did not escape her attention. She said nothing, but my maid was certainly worried, and so were some of the other maidens of the harem. They knew from experience how sharp her eyes can be to notice anything out of place within the harem.  
  
"A few days later, we received a second visit, this time from all three of the Lady Administrators. They swept into the harem, and called me in to a small office to speak with them. Apparently, after close reading of harem records, they managed to untangle our little plot. They were furious with me, and also with Ruby Hawk, though she at least was out of their reach.  
  
"You must understand, Hotohori-sama, that your administrators' greatest fear is that scandal will touch your harem in any way. The madens' reputation, your reputation, and possibly the administrators' heads, are at risk if even a rumor of impropriety attaches to the harem. Moreover, being administrators, these women could not bear it that false records existed and therefore a fraud might be perpetrated on you. What if you showed interest in me? They certainly didn't want to explain at that point that I wasn't the woman you thought I was!  
  
"They reluctantly concluded that I had to stay, since getting rid of me would generate more problems than leaving me in place. They demanded details about my family and education, and they were not happy with my replies, despite my best efforts to pretend to be the kind of noblewoman who might be a suitable Empress. Finally, they decided to change Ruby Hawk's records to reflect my true name and place of origin. They spent some time working out the details to their satisfaction, ignoring me except for occasional disgusted glances.  
  
"I figured they were simply keeping me there as a form of punishment, but after an interminable discussion, two of them left, and the third woman turned her full attention to me.  
  
"Let me call the lady Jade Tiger, because she was as hard and as fierce as that name. I have since been told that she has been involved with the harem since your mother's days, and she is not in favor of the amount of 'coddling' harem life entails.  
  
"She just stared at me for the longest time, and when she finally spoke her voice was very quiet and intense with barely-controlled anger. She told me that no matter what I might have imagined, I was never going to be chosen as the Empress. She promised that if you asked to meet with any ladies from the harem, she would make sure that my name did not come to your attention. She accused me of being a brothel girl, or worse. In short, she promised that I would never leave the harem and that she would make me as miserable as possible while I was trapped there.  
  
"By this time I was nearly weeping with anger and shame. I pleaded with her, saying that I had never meant harm, never meant to deceive the Emperor or anyone else, that I was as untouched as any of the other maidens... Really, I said anything I could think of to appease her, but her anger seemed to increase with every word I spoke. Finally, I threw myself at her feet and began to kiss her slippers. I was weeping in earnest by then, bathing her feet with my tears. I dared to take her right foot in my hand and began to massage it gently, sobbing and pleading with her to let me be accepted as any other maiden in the harem.  
  
"From early childhood I had learned to massage my mother's feet and legs, for she frequently got cramps when she stood too long without walking about. My mother had praised my skills, right up until the day she stopped talking to me and exiled me to my room. Whether because of my skill or because of simple surprise, Jade Tiger did not ask me to stop touching her, so I kept on, using the balls of my thumbs to ease the tension from each of her feet.  
  
"She had become silent and seemed a little calmer, and I also felt less troubled as I began to massage her calves using my flat hands to relax those muscles. I felt the tension leaving her, yet her breathing was a little faster as I finished with her calves. Then I felt her hands on my head, caressing my hair and pulling my face forward. Almost in a trance, I began to massage her inner thighs, using not only gentle strokes of my hand, but also my tongue and lips. A couple of times I bit her very gently, and she jerked in surprise, only to pull my mouth more firmly toward her. When I dared to steal a glance at her face, she was biting her lips to keep from making any sound, and I realized that the harem maidens had undoubtedly posted at least one person to listen to our conversation.  
  
"I continued advancing higher on her thighs -- I couldn't have stopped myself if I had wanted to. I felt as if I was no longer in control of my own actions, as if I had somehow been possessed by another... being. Finally, I..."  
  
"Nuriko-sei, I beg you!"  
  
She sighed and dropped her eyes immediately. He thought perhaps she hid a blush -- something about her posture suggested that, for the first time since he had met her, she was truly embarrassed. "Gomen, Hotohori-sama. You are correct -- this is not something you need to hear. I do not know why I was about to tell it. I will simply say that I do not know what might have happened next, if someone had not dared to enter the closed room. She spoke our names softly, and the trance that held us was broken. She sent me out to bathe and compose myself, and she stayed behind to speak to the Lady Administrator. I was... astonished that she seemed to have so much authority, for I had assumed that within the harem, all the maidens were equals.  
  
"In due course, the Lady Administrator departed serenely, though I barely noticed. I was in my room, in a state between weeping and dumb misery by then. I could not understand myself. I have never desired women, Hotohori-sama, and by this time I was convinced I would never desire anyone but you. Yet I had tried to... I couldn't even phrase it in my mind. I came up against a blank wall of panic every time I remembered what had happened. That is when the woman we will call Pearl Butterfly came to me.  
  
"I wish I could describe her adequately, Hotohori-sama. If you had a small painting of her, I think she would exceed even your high standards. She is very small, almost child-size really, but there is nothing of childhood about her face or especially her eyes. Her hair is a mass of dark curls that can lie demurely on her shoulders or surround her face like a storm cloud. And her eyes are the blue of irises.  
  
"But her real beauty is beyond the ability of any brushtroke artist, for it is never still. And I cannot even describe it, except to say that she seems to carry light within her."  
  
"Regrettable that I have never met her," he mused.  
  
Nuriko sighed, and allowed her eyes to meet his. "I'm afraid she is another like myself, Hotohori-sama. Your administrators would never suggest her name if you were to ask for one or more of the ladies to attend you."  
  
He smiled slightly. "Surely you are not going to tell me that a *second* maiden managed to find an unauthorized way into my harem?"  
  
"Nothing like that, Hotohori-sama. She was brought in with the full approval and knowledge of your administrators. But she is unique among the ladies of your harem, nonetheless. She alone among us was born into poverty. And until she came to us, she was a brothel girl. You can see why your advisors..."  
  
For a moment Hotohori was deafened by fury. "Nuriko-sei," he managed, after an effort to regain control. "You will not make such jokes in the future."  
  
For the first time that evening, she turned the full force of her sardonic smile on him. He had to clench the table to prevent himself from either slapping her or shaking her, he wasn't sure which.  
  
"Heika, I assure you, on my word as Suzaku-shichi-sei, that I have neither lied nor exaggerated in anything I have said tonight. I think perhaps it would be salutory for you to hear Butterfly's story, but... I am afraid it is too late to tell it tonight."  
  
"Very well," he agreed grudgingly. "You may withdraw so that we can both get some sleep. But I am going to ask -- in fact require -- that you come back tomorrow, an hour after evening court. I am going to hear how a brothel maid found her way into my supposedly well-run harem."  
  
She inclined her head in dignified assent . "As always, I am yours to command." She rose then and made her way from the room with gliding dignity.  
  
When he was sure she was well away, Hotohori flung himself up out of his chair and stalked into his dressing room. "Chin!" When his major domo arrived, Hotohori was already removing his evening wear. A body servant rushed to help him. "Nuriko-sei will be dining here again tomorrow night. See to it. And I'll have a bath before retiring." Chin nodded to acknowledge his instructions, then withdrew. Hotohori waved the body servant away, threw off the last bit of encumbering clothing, and strode toward the bathing chamber. 


	4. Konan Nights, ch 4

Hotohori was floating at last. He had washed three times before one of his attendants pointed out that he would damage his skin if he kept scrubbing it. He had had to acknowledge the sense of that, and so he had taken himself into the soaking pool and forced himself to practice one of the exercises his first tutors had taught him, to calm the mind. Now, finally, he had managed to lock the idea of a brothel girl --ugh! -- away for now, and he could let the bath relax him.  
  
As tension flowed out of his body, he found his mind drifting to his harem. Nuriko had certainly aroused his curiosity.. among other things .. about that small city of women who dwelt under his roof. If he remembered correctly, this bathing chamber shared a wall with the harem. A blank wall, of course. He had had a mirror hung there soon after he took the throne...  
  
Forty maidens, he reflected languidly. Forty maidens who were madly in love with him, he reminded himself with a small snort of amusement.  
  
He wondered what to do about those forty maidens, and for that matter about Nuriko's continuing infatuation (he refused to use any other word) with him. It occurred to him for the first time that perhaps all the harem maidens were like her in that regard, in love with some ideal image of him they had made up between themselves. He supposed it might be so. Perhaps he ought to meet some of them. He sighed, thinking of the endless round of audiences, council meetings, open court, more audiences. When, in these unsettled days, could he find time to meet with anyone who did not have urgent business with him?  
  
Well, there was Nuriko, of course. Though apparently the gods disagreed with him about how urgent her business was. He wished he knew how to guide that relationship into a more appropriate -- and comfortable -- channel.  
  
Thinking about it was undoing his earlier relaxation, and he decided it was time to get to bed. Tomorrow, after all, promised to be a long day.  
  
When the new day came, it proved to be longer than he had expected. He was awoken at dawn from very unsettled dreams, with word that not one but three of the border provinces were under assault. The preparations he and his advisors had put in place had to be executed, and he found himself meeting with a series of nobles from the borderlands, both to explain what was being done and to get firsthand reports. By midafternoon, he saw clearly that his evening meeting with Nuriko would have to be postponed, in favor of meeting with representatives from Hokan, and trying to persuade them to join in the effort to throw Kotou back inside its own borders. He sent her a short note then, and gave Chin new instructions about his evening agenda, before going to prepare for evening court.  
  
At the conclusion of court, he invited the Hokan representatives to a small working dinner, with clerks in attendance. It became clear to him fairly quickly that they were not prepared to offer anything beyond sympathy. Hokan, unlike its two neighbors, had been at peace within secure borders for many decades -- Hotohori supposed they simply couldn't imagine the danger posed by Kotou. Still, he kept at his task, bringing to bear all the diplomatic skills he could muster. In the end, he won only the promise that his words would be taken to Hokan's emperor and given serious consideration. Hotohori left the meeting feeling drained and defeated.  
  
When he reached his rooms, he passed through the room where he had intended to take dinner with Nuriko on the way to his dressing room. As he began to remove his court garb and prepare for bed, he suddenly felt dizzy -- no, he felt as if he was being picked up and shaken. His vision grayed, and he could hardly hear the babble of concerned servants.  
  
The next thing he saw was Chichiri's face, his true face, leaning over him. He felt the priest's hands on his forehead and heart, and then Chichiri stepped back. "He will want something to drink now," he informed the hovering servants. When they had tended him to their satisfaction, Chichiri took a seat next to the emperor's bed.  
  
"What happened?" Hotohori asked weakly.  
  
"I felt a surge of power, and I came," the priest replied. "What have you been doing that has so annoyed your recent visitor, Hotohori-sei?"  
  
"My... oh. I suppose... I cancelled tonight's meeting with Nuriko-sei, so that I could meet with..." his voice seemed to wind down as he spoke.  
  
Chichiri shook his head. "I told you that it is foolish to defy the gods. I will bring Nuriko-sei." He rose briskly and stepped toward the door.  
  
"No!" Hotohori tried to sit up, and failed. "I don't want..."  
  
Chichiri turned back briefly. "I can do nothing to help you until Nuriko-sei is here, Heika. You must rest until we both return."  
  
Hotohori fell back fretfully. The thought of appearing ill or weak in front of Nuriko made him cringe, but it appeared he had no choice. He felt like a truant schoolboy who had been caught out, and he would have resented it very much, if he had had the energy. He resolved to resent it properly... tomorrow.  
  
A few minutes later, he heard the approach of slippered feet. Even from his bed he could tell them apart -- the soft shuffling glide of a woman of the court in counterpoint to Chichiri's dancing steps. He seemed to be taking three steps for each of Nuriko's -- Hotohori wondered if he was literally circling around her in agitation at her refusal to be rushed beyond the point of graceful deportment. He had to smile. He approved of Nuriko's devotion to proper appearances.  
  
The two were admitted, and Nuriko came to his bedside very quickly indeed. "Hotohori-sama, what has happened? Chichiri would say nothing except that I must come immediately."  
  
"Sit there next to him, Nuriko-sei. Take his left hand in yours, and place your right hand over your shirushi -- you, too, Hotohori-sei." With those instructions, the priest placed one hand on each of their foreheads. Hotohori felt warmth and light flowing into him, filling him, and then overflowing, connecting him to... everything, perhaps. When the flow was well established, Chichiri stepped away. Nuriko did not immediately relinquish his hand -- he found he had to withdraw it gently.  
  
"I have undone the damage to the best of my abilities. I will warn you, Hotohori-sei, that you must not repeat this error."  
  
"Would one of you tell me what is going on?" Nuriko demanded plaintively.  
  
Chichiri looked pointedly at Hotohori, who sighed. "Can I get dressed first?" he asked rather petulantly. Chichiri raised an eyebrow in mild censure, but nodded.  
  
When he returned, he found that Chin had made his unexpected guests comfortable, and Chichiri had somehow persuaded Nuriko to tell him about some of their recent conversations. The monk was again masked and looked highly amused, Hotohori noted sourly, though in all fairness, he had to admit that Chichiri usually looked amused. "Four days and three nights," the monk was repeating in his high, clear voice. "I am impressed, Nuriko-sei, na na da. I never managed more than a day, a night, and another day no da!" Rising, the monk bowed to both of them. "I will leave you to continue what may not be interrupted, no da." At a nod from Hotohori, he let himself out.  
  
Nuriko had risen as well, and now she hovered near him, not quite daring to touch, but clearly intending to support him if needed. He suppressed a pang of embarrassed irritation with the ease of years of practice in being hovered over. He seated himself without incident, then nodded firmly toward her seat opposite his. With a small smile, she took the indicated seat. "Gomen, Hotohori-sama. I can see you are recovered now. You frightened us -- I've seldom seen Chichiri look alarmed, 'no da'."  
  
Hotohori had to laugh at her small joke, but he looked a little grim nonetheless. "I am sorry as well -- I'm afraid I owe you an explanation. What did Chichiri tell you?"  
  
"Nothing, really -- he just asked me whether I'd ever tried to defy Suzaku-shin's desires and I told him ... some of ... the story I told you."  
  
Hotohori sighed then and told her what had happened two nights before, just before she had fainted. As he spoke, her face seemed to freeze into a pale mask of her court beauty pose. He wondered if she hid fear or distaste behind that cool poise. Probably she felt the mixture of dread and anger that he felt at the thought that the god could reach out and touch him at any time... When she spoke, however, her tone was matter-of-fact.  
  
"So, Hotohori-sama -- or should I say, Heika-sama. You have been favored with the attention of the gods -- other than Suzaku-shin, I mean."  
  
"'Favor' is not how I would characterize it," he grumbled, provoking a peal of musical laughter. He decided that, under the circumstances, being irritated with her was a great improvement in his mood. "Apparently, you are meant to tell me something that will save the realm. You don't happen to know what it is, I suppose?" She shook her head solemnly, but her eyes were dancing. He looked away then, to conceal a momentary feeling of dizziness. When he met her eyes again, she seemed not to have noticed. "Then it appears that you are going to be a fixture on my evening schedule until we figure it out. Not that I don't enjoy your company, but I hope a little thing like Konan-koku being at war isn't going to get in the way."  
  
She made no immediate reply, and he glanced at her curiously. She seemed to be thinking hard, perhaps trying to figure out what it was she was supposed to tell him. But his next words, as so often before, took him by surprise.  
  
"Is it very lonely, being the emperor?" she asked quietly. He looked down at once, but not, he feared, before she saw the answer in his eyes.  
  
"I was just thinking about how seldom I am allowed even the illusion of being alone," he replied obliquely.  
  
"Hotohori-sama," she said softly, "I will promise to try to think what it is that I know that will save the kingdom. If you permit, I would ask in return that you speak only truth to me."  
  
To give himself a moment to think, he rose and walked to the window, then stood looking out at the shutters that were barred against the winter rains.  
  
He sighed. "Very well, Nuriko-sei. Yes. I have been lonely since my mother's death. I thought... I hoped, at least, that my loneliness would end when Suzaku no miko appeared. And finding Miaka, and all the rest of you, has been ... a great gift, truly. As a man, as one of Suzaku shichi-sei, I finally have true friends. As emperor, well... there is no one. You are my friends, but also, you are my subjects. You are in my charge, and I cannot in honor pass my burdens to you."  
  
"Why have you not taken an empress, Hotohori-sama?" Her voice behind him was quiet and a little sad; he decided he did not want to see what might be in her eyes.  
  
"Taking an empress feels like... one more duty I don't have time for," he explained. "How could I give a wife the kind of time she would deserve and still fulfill my other duties?"  
  
When he made no further reply, Nuriko sighed, then gave a single, unhappy chuckle. "I have just had the strangest thought, Hotohori-sama. In all the years since I first saw your face, I have imagined myself -- or any of my sisters in the harem -- as your empress. Yet somehow, it has never occurred to me to wonder what you might wish for in a wife. I feel very foolish but... I would like to know."  
  
Slowly he came back to his chair. "I suppose... well, there must be an heir of course. My advisors are very firm about that. And I suppose..." To his embarrassment, he found himself blushing, but he mastered the urge to look away. "I suppose it would be nice to have someone to care for, personally instead of by proxy. And to have someone to hold... at night."  
  
Nuriko seemed puzzled. "Nothing more? Forgive me for asking this, Hotohori-sama, but... If Miaka had consented to be your empress, do you think she would have been content to confine her activities to the royal bedroom and the royal nursery?"  
  
"Well, Miaka... She's different, ne? She's from another world -- someplace I cannot even imagine. Someplace I have no responsibility for. I had hoped that would make her a partner of a different sort -- more independent, perhaps and..."  
  
"Hotohori-sama, I do not understand you. Has it never occurred to you that an empress is more than a bedmate and a brood mare?" When he would have interrupted, she glared him down, and to his own surprise, he let her continue. "You are lonely, because you cannot bear to burden those who are part of your charge. You are overworked, because there is no one who can take over some of your duties. And there are nearly *forty* women under your roof who have been trained from childhood to do exactly what you need someone to do, and who want to do it, who would take up some of your burdens not just willingly, but joyfully. I cannot see why you do not rush at the opportunity!"  
  
"Nuriko-sei, what you suggest is impossible. There can be only one ruler, not two."  
  
"Indeed? Tell me, Hotohori-sama, when you took the throne at eight..."  
  
"As a figurehead, lady. My mother ruled in all but name."  
  
"Fine then, as a figurehead, at eight. How about when you were ten -- were you still merely a figurehead."  
  
He shrugged. "For the most part. She had consented to give me charge of some small matters."  
  
"Indeed. And did she interfere in those matters over which she gave you charge?"  
  
"They were *trivial*, Nuriko-sei. Why should she bother?"  
  
"And when you were ten? And twelve?"  
  
"Well, she was beginning to be ill by the time I was twelve. I had taken over a great many functions of the government as her strength failed, though in some ways, my advisors ruled me rather than the reverse."  
  
"Hotohori-sama, why do you not see what your mother was doing? For six years there were two rulers in Konan, a ... a master and an apprentice, if you don't mind the analogy."  
  
"You make it sound as if my mother was truly the empress rather than the dowager," he complained.  
  
"Wasn't she? Hotohori-sama, the facts seem clear enough..."  
  
"Nuriko-sei, I appreciate your candor, but you just don't understand the nature of statecraft. Please, Nuriko-sei. Much as I hate to admit it, I am still tired after my earlier... I suppose attack is entirely too precise a word. I would like you to continue where we left off last night, so that we can conclude this interview and I can go to bed."  
  
"Yours to command," she observed frostily. "I hope you will allow me to continue with Butterfly's story, despite the fact that it apparently infuriates you." He pressed his lips together and nodded.  
  
For a moment, he watched her struggle to contain her frustration with his dismissal of her opinions. Oddly, as she mastered herself, his own irritation ebbed as well, and he wanted, for just a moment, to reach out to her and ask forgiveness for his earlier abruptness. But she began her story, and the moment passed.  
  
"Well then... I am sorry to cause your Majesty pain, but I know you are aware that, despite your best efforts, there are poor families in this realm of Konan."  
  
"To my shame, that is so."  
  
"Heika-sama! I think that even if the gods ruled with perfect justice from heaven, poverty would not disappear. Sometimes people bring it on themselves with laziness or bad judgement, and sometimes they are overcome by adversity. Surely not even the gods can prevent every sort of adversity that can overtake us!" She stole a glance to see if he was angry at her tone of reproof. To her relief, he only looked thoughtful.  
  
"Now then! Butterfly says that her family was poor when she was born, but not desparately so. She was the sixth child of her parents, and they had four strong sons growing up to help with the hard work. They might have done well enough to buy a cow, she thought, if it hadn't been for the flood.  
  
"In one season, her family's land was drowned, then denuded of soil as the rushing waters receded. Her father and the two eldest boys were killed trying to save the family's few possessions. And to make matters worse, a plague followed the flood, and her mother also was carried away.  
  
"The remaining children came under the protection of an uncle, who had fared a little better during this time. But he was by no means a wealthy man, and neither Butterfly nor her siblings were old enough to be of help to his family. In the end, he sold Butterfly, who was then no more than four years of age, to a brothel in a nearby village."  
  
"That is barbarity!" The emperor was nearly sputtering in fury. "Such things cannot be allowed in this realm!"  
  
"What would you have, Hotohori-sama," she asked sadly. "Butterfly thinks that her uncle truly tried to make the best choice. Even at the time, you see, Butterfly was an extraordinary beauty, far beyond the beauty given to all children. If she had stayed with him, her uncle may have reasoned, that beauty would be destroyed by starvation and the burden of hard daily toil. But the women of the brothel were beautiful, years after peasant women have become drab. Not to mention the fact that the price he received probably kept her brothers and sister alive in a very difficult time."  
  
She waited for him to work through that argument, waited for the anger to be replaced by a rather grudging consideration, and finally a reluctant smile. "Your Butterfly gives people too much credit, I think," he said at last. "She reminds me of someone else we know."  
  
She had to laugh. "Yes, she is a little like our priestess in some ways, now that you mention it.  
  
"It happens that, whether by judgement or luck or divine intervention, Butterfly had not been sold into a typical brothel. I suppose you must know that brothels usually reflect the tastes of their clients..."  
  
"Nuriko! Must I hear this?"  
  
"Yes, Hotohori-sama, you must, even if it bruises your delicate sensitivities. And don't frown so -- I think if I'm going to do all this story-telling, you should be as beautiful as possible!  
  
"As I was saying, a brothel that caters to small merchants is a much different place than one that caters to, oh, young noblemen in the capital. And not only the furnishings are different -- the women are different, and the way they relate to each other is different as well. Hotohori-sama, daijobuka?"  
  
In fact, Hotohori was feeling very unsteady indeed. As his vision grayed out, he felt himself lifted bodily from the chair, and he thought for one moment that he was a child again, being carried to bed.  
  
When he opened his eyes this time, the room seemed overfilled with people. His physician was there, as well as Chichiri and several of his advisors. Nuriko had claimed a chair beside his bed, and he suppressed a moment of mingled panic and irritation, knowing what his advisors would make of that. With her usual sensitivity, she noticed his reaction and relinquished her place to Chichiri and the physician.  
  
"What's going on?" Hotohori demanded.  
  
Chichiri was about to reply, but it was the physician who got in the first word. "Heika, I do not know. There is a blockage in your ki, certainly, but I do not understand the source. This one says..."  
  
Chichiri touched the physician's hand very gently, and the man fell silent with a troubled expression.  
"I am sorry, Heika no da," Chichiri explained, "but I cannot re-establish a correct flow of your ki. I think I am not meant to, no da." His expression was grave, and there was none of his usual amusement to be found in his good eye.  
  
"So... what does this mean, exactly?" Hotohori asked quietly.  
  
"You are in no danger, not for many days at least. But you will be unable to move about much, and you will certainly not be able to conduct court or concentrate on affairs of state until the flow of your ki is re-established."  
  
"But... the war!" That was one of the advisors, and for a moment it seemed likely to start a flood of babble, if it had not been for Chichiri's unexpected shout of "Quiet, please!"  
  
The emperor's physician spoke into the resulting silence. "I do not know how this blockage comes about, and I cannot understand this one's explanation, but I fear he is correct, Heika. You cannot continue your daily routine until this condition is alleviated."  
  
"And how long will that require?" Hotohori demanded, in a voice that made the physician wince. Hotohori was reminded that he had best control his own frustration, for everyone's sake.  
  
Chichiri shrugged. "It will depend on how soon you complete the task you have been assigned, no da. Apparently, distractions from that task are not to be allowed, no da."  
  
"Heika?" Nuriko's voice was unexpectedly demure, at least to Hotohori's ears. "Perhaps you might ... complete your researches ... in a day or two. I believe you were telling me of an instance where you withdrew your attention and your ministers managed very well for a time. Perhaps that might be so here, too? At least for a short period?"  
  
Hotohori glanced around. Several of his ministers looked mildly panicky, but the eldest of them, a man who had served since the reign of Hotohori's father, looked thoughtful. "Do I have a choice?" the emperor asked sourly. Nuriko and Chichiri shook their heads, and the physician looked resigned.  
  
"Very well." Although his voice was weaker than he would have preferred, it was recognizably the imperial voice. His advisors and even the other shichi-sei straightened their backs and sharpened their attention. "I will appoint Lord Lo," he indicated the elderly advisor, " to handle decisions that cannot be resolved by the rest of my advisors. I expect everyone in my government to make his best effort to resolve matters himself, but if Lord Lo must be called on to decide, then his decisions will be as mine, until I am again able to take matters in hand.  
  
"It is also vital that no word of my indisposition leave this room, and in particular, it must not reach the ears of anyone in the various delegations from our neighboring kingdoms. Lo, I charge you with this in particular, that you find a good reason for me to absent myself for a day or two, and that you  
make the story stick. I believe you may have performed this service for my mother on occasion," he finished drily.  
  
"Now, if you don't mind, I believe I need to rest."  
  
The advisors looked as if they would burst into another outburst, but Lo took charge smoothly and cleared them from the room, leaving only the physician, Chichiri and Nuriko -- and Chin, who stepped in from the other room as the door closed on the advisors and rather pointedly waited for permission to speak.  
  
At Hotohori's nod, he bowed and said, "Heika, I believe that if you remain in the palace, it will be impossible for you to rest. Of course I will do my best to prevent your lord ministers from disturbing you, but... I may be unable. I suggest that we remove you to one of the royal lodges outside the capital..."  
  
Hotohori stopped him with a raised hand. "Impossible, Chin. I need to be available in case..."  
  
"Heika," the physician interrupted. "Chin is right. You *cannot* allow yourself to be disturbed until this blockage is cleared."  
  
Hotohori appealed to Chichiri, but the monk shook his head very solemnly. "You must complete the task assigned, Heika no da. As of now, no harm has been done to your health, but if you delay, that may not be so no da!"  
  
"Nevertheless," Hotohori protested, "I can't make preparations for a journey. How would you keep such a thing secret, for heaven's sake!"  
  
Nuriko stepped forward. "I have an idea that might work. There is a very private house of healing here in the capital, not far from the palace. With Chichiri's help, just you and I might slip in there and stay for a couple of days with no one the wiser. Between us, we ought to be able to figure out this puzzle that has been posed to you. And your health could be overseen by healers, in case there are any more surprises."  
  
"What healing house?" the physician demanded. "I will not have some sort of quacks..." At the same time, Chin wailed, "You cannot take the emperor out of our care!"  
  
Nuriko's smile grew rather edged. "You may of course come with us, gentlemen. Though it will make it hard to hide the truth if everyone involved in the emperor's personal care disappears at once."  
  
Hotohori sighed. "Enough," he informed his quarreling retainers. "Chichiri-sei, will you go with Nuriko-sei and examine this house of healing? If it is suitable, will you take us both there secretly as soon as possible? Chin is very wise, I think -- neither he nor Lord Lo will be able to prevent some of those men from deciding that only I can make some particular decision. Much better to take away that choice."  
  
Chichiri nodded, and took his leave with Nuriko. That left only the physician and Chin to argue with the emperor. Fortunately, at that point, Hotohori's strength failed, and the two disgruntled men were forced to accept the instructions already given. Hotohori sighed as they left his room, and fell into a deep sleep. 


	5. konan Nights, ch 5

As soon as he was left alone, Hotohori discovered he felt perfectly well -- energetic, in fact. He rose from his bed as silently as he could manage, glancing at the open door to his dressing room, but Chin did not come out. Tiptoeing to the door, he let himself out into the hall. The guards had apparently stepped away for a moment, so he was able to make his way down the hall without anyone at all taking notice of his movements. He found himself grinning with rather childish pleasure at the unaccustomed freedom of movement.  
  
Without really, planning what he was doing, he found himself drawn toward the wing that had been assigned to the other shichi-sei, and he soon heard Nuriko's voice issuing from the window of her suite, which was ajar. He was surprised to find himself moving past her door several feet so that he could hear the conversation more clearly. "Look, Chichiri-sei, you have every reason to worry about my motivations. I worry about them, too. But I also think this is exactly what he needs, and..."  
  
"Mitsukake, no da..."  
  
"*IF* Mitsukake could do more than you could, how long do you think it would be before Holy Whosits found something else to throw at him? Do me a favor and check this place out and decide then, OK? If you disagree with me after you've met Hummingbird, we can look for a better solution."  
  
It seemed she had carried the discussion, because a moment later, she came bustling out of her door, then caught herself and began strolling away from Hotohori. He closed his eyes for a moment, relieved that she had not chosen to turn in his direction. Then, staying carefully in the shadows, he followed her leisurely progress back toward his own suite. In fact, he had a bad few moments wondering if she was going back to check on him, but she passed his doorway (the guards were now back on station, and they nodded courteously to Nuriko but affected not to see their emperor walking past.)  
  
It dawned on him that Nuriko's destination had to be the harem, and he found himself hiding a smile as he followed even more carefully. The sense of exhileration -- like a schoolboy on a forbidden adventure -- was bubbling in his veins. Tonight, anything seemed possible.  
  
As he expected, Nuriko stopped at the door that led to the harem. It was latched from this side, but when Nuriko scratched softly on the middle panel, the door was opened immediately by a lovely little maid. "Korin-sama," the girl exclaimed. "We have all missed you terribly! But it's so late, you've missed all the fun for tonight..."  
  
"I need to see Butterfly, Micho-chan. She hasn't retired yet, I hope?"  
  
"That one? She was born to be an owl, I think. But she is finding us all very trying these days. Come in, come in!"  
  
Nuriko was welcomed into the inner door and Hotohori carefully kept the outer door a finger's breadth from latching. When the lady and the maid had passed out of the anteroom, Hotohori slipped in, and was pleased to find that the inner door opened at a touch.  
  
"Bring her to the small interview room if you would, Micho-chan. Who knows? Maybe what I have to tell her will cheer her up, ne?"  
  
"That would be a true gift, Korin-sama. I will send tea and fetch Butterfly-sama immediately."  
  
Hotohori drew back to asess his options. Apparently, though Butterfly was still awake, he heard no sound to indicate that any of the other ladies might come upon him unexpectedly from some side room. After a moment of thought, he found a deeply shadowed corner in a rather large room, and waited until he heard Butterfly greet Nuriko and the maid return to her post at the entrance room. Then he crept to the door of what Nuriko had called the small interview room. The tea had been served, and the maid who brought it had left the door slightly ajar before retiring to somewhere out of earshot of quiet conversation, but ready if called. Hotohori looked around, but saw no one. He moved to where he could look into the room and hear what was being said, without Nuriko or the other lady seeing him. Nuriko's face was clearly visible in the pool of light cast by a lantern to the side of the desk, but Butterfly's back was to him and he could see little but her hair. He noticed that it was as glorious as Nuriko had described it.  
  
"So, Korin-sama, it is a delight to see you, but I worry about what brings you back to us after all these months."  
  
"Oh, Butterfly, I can't tell you how much I wish sometimes that I could truly come back! But I came because I need your help to help the emperor."  
  
"You sound rather grim, Korin-sama. Are you well? Is... is his highness well?"  
  
At that moment, Hotohori heard a noise and withdrew until he was certain he was unobserved. When he returned to his observation post, Nuriko was concluding her request.  
  
"I'll need a letter for Hummingbird, then, that will persuade her to turn away anyone else she may be expecting to see in the next few days, without actually explaining the circumstances."  
  
"She will realize who he is as soon as she sees him, of course."  
  
"It's not that I don't trust her, Butterfly. It's that I don't want the letter itself to be a danger to him. If she feels that she's been deceived, I'll apologize. I'll grovel if need be..."  
  
"Shh, sister. Leave Hummingbird to me." She opened a desk drawer and took out paper, brushes, ink and sand. After a few moments she handed the note to Nuriko, who scanned it and nodded.  
  
"I can't see how an enemy would make anything of that," Nuriko admitted. "I'll take your word that Hummingbird will understand it."  
  
Both women rose and Hotohori withdrew a bit further into the shadows, but not so far that he could no longer see into the room. When Butterfly turned to walk toward the door, he looked at her searchingly. She was as beautiful as Nuriko had promised and yet... He felt a momentary sense of disappointment, as if a hope had been dashed. Then he stepped back to the shadowed corner he had found earlier and waited for the women to pass, speaking quietly and easily together, like old friends. As Nuriko was about to open the door to the anteroom, Hotohori saw Butterfly grip Nuriko's shoulders firmly and kiss her cheeks. "Take care of him, dear one."  
  
Nuriko touched Butterfly's face for just a moment. "I will, you know that. You keep the rest of the girls from going crazy while he's away, all right?"  
  
Butterfly laughed then, though it was a rather tired sound. "I'll manage for a few days, I think. And if anyone can fix this whole situation, Hummingbird can. Gods all speed, sister." The two women exchanged a final, solemn look, then Nuriko nodded and walked out of the two doors that separated the harem from the rest of the palace.  
  
Now Hotohori realized that he had allowed himself to be trapped in here. After Butterfly made her way back into some inner recess of the harem, he began to prowl in search of a way out. He moved from one darkened room to another, and found no exits. Finally he stopped to collect his wits, suppressing a moment of panic because he knew very well that only a single entrance to the harem existed. Just as he realized that he really was trapped, he heard a small sound from a room just ahead and to his left. Listening intently, he realized it was someone weeping, and he crept toward the sound.  
  
The door that he sought opened silently at his touch, and he was able to make out a small shape huddled in a bed bathed in moonlight. For a moment, Hotohori thought that Nuriko had somehow remained in the harem for the night, but this girl seemed much younger. No doubt it was only the moonlight that made her resemble Nuriko.  
  
At that point, he must have made some sound, for the girl silenced her weeping abruptly. After a long moment, he heard her whisper, "Who is there?"  
  
Hotohori nerved himself and stepped into the moonlight. The girl's eyes glittered as she stared wide-eyed at her visitor, but fortunately for him she made no sound. "Please don't be afraid," he whispered. "I'm afraid I'm lost in here, and..."  
  
"Is it really you?" The girl stood up then, and reached hesitantly to touch his face. "They never said... Do you often come to see us, then?"  
  
"Shhh. Don't wake anyone. No, this is my first time here, and I could really use your help getting out!"  
  
The girl giggled, then clapped a hand to her mouth. "Are you really Heika Koutei, my lord? You seem very much more .. human, somehow ... than I imagined."  
  
"Human enough to get into a very stupid position, I'm afraid." The girl laughed out loud now, and he shushed her, but she shook her head. "No one will hear us, Heika. Would you like to look around the harem, if you are here for the first time?"  
  
He felt himself flushing painfully, and was glad that the moonlight must hide it from her. Though he was less glad that the moonlight hid all details of her features as well. "I am feeling very foolish for slipping in here in the first place," he confessed. "It was wrong of me to diminish your privacy. But... I have been very curious."  
  
She giggled again, and boldly took his hand. For a moment, he almost drew away, then he felt his embarrassment disappear with an almost audible pop. Something about this young woman gave him the confidence to squeeze her hand briefly and follow.  
  
"It is really very beautiful here, you know," she explained, leading him back into the hallway and toward the common areas. He stole a glance at her, but there was still not enough light to make out her features.  
  
"Why were you crying, lady?" he asked softly, then cursed himself when she turned away for a moment. He thought that she would not answer, but finally she sighed.  
  
"Heika, I was being foolish. I have been here a very short time, you see, and I'm not used to it yet."  
  
"Used to what? Are the other maidens unkind to you?"  
  
"Oh, no, Heika, never! But... it is very different from home. Very lonely, in a way... Look, Heika, is this brushwork not beautiful?"  
  
To his shock, Hotohori found himself looking at a portrait of ... himself. And he found himself almost unable to catch his breath, for the Hotohori in the portrait was inhumanly beautiful, but ... very humanly aroused. The Hotohori in the portrait was completely nude, still dripping from the bath, and he had apparently just dropped his hand from his erect penis, perhaps in order to admire his stance in a mirror. "Who..." his voice came out a squeak. "How could they..." He heard a cough from the woman beside him, that sounded suspiciously like a smothered laugh. Then the emperor's eye was caught by a small detail of the portrait. The man in the portrait had a small scar just above his ribs, perhaps two inches below his right nipple. Hotohori felt that scar tingle on his own chest, remembered the day his swordmaster had given him the scratch to teach him the consequences of inattention. How could someone other than his body servants have known...?  
  
"Surely you see how we love you, Heika." Laughter bubbled in the girl-woman's tone, but beneath it was a frightening honesty. "You are in our thoughts as well as before our eyes, always. Come now. I will get Micho-chan to come back inside the harem and you can slip out. I hope you will visit us again, Heika!"  
  
Before he could catch her eyes, or even get a clear look at her features, she whirled and after a final, frustrated glance at the wall scroll she had showed him, he followed her. It was a matter of minutes before he stood again in front of his own door, where the guards were unaccountably absent again. Sliding his door open as little as possible, he slipped into his room and was about to return to bed. That was when he realized that he was already in the bed, and the world went dark.  
  
It seemed only a minute passed before he heard Chichiri's voice, calling him softly but urgently to wake up. For a moment he expected that this must be another dream, and tried to flee back into sleep. But Chichiri would not be denied, and Hotohori found himself reluctantly opening his eyes and staring resignedly at the monk, who seemed to be nearly capering with amusement. "It is time for you to dress, Heika no da. We will do well to slip into this house of healing before dawn, Nuriko-sei says."  
  
"Ah, so she won that argument then, ne?"  
  
The monk laughed with delight. "Indeed, Hotohori-sei. Nuriko-sei is very persuasive na no da!" Still chuckling, left Hotohori to Chin, who had been waiting to shepherd the emperor into the dressing room.  
  
Once there, the older man became more voluble than Hotohori had ever seen him. "Heika, I beg that you will reconsider this plan. Those two will not allow any of us to come along to attend you! Surely you can see how unsuitable that would be!"  
  
"Indeed, and how do they answer your objections, Chin?" Hotohori inquired mildly as he gave himself to the care of his body servants, who annointed and dressed him with practiced hands.  
  
"He just *giggles*, Heika, and says that attendants will be available. And..." the man continued to lament the situation, until Hotohori, now completely dressed in soft silks that were both comfortable and comforting, touched Chin's shoulder to stem the tide of words.  
  
"Thank you, Chin, for your concern. I don't often thank you, I know, but I do understand how much you do for me, and how much you concern yourself with me. I'm sorry, but I must do what Chichiri-sei and Nuriko-sei suggest right now. I think you heard Nuriko-sei -- or Whoever used her voice -- tell me that this is a matter of preserving the realm. So please, do this for me. Consult with Lord Lo, and follow whatever plan he comes up with to keep anyone from knowing I'm away. He can't succeed without your help, and he's smart enough to know it. Will you do that?"  
  
Chin looked as if he had been asked to swallow a live goldfish, but after a moment he sighed. "As you command, Heika."  
  
Hotohori nodded his thanks, and went out to join Chichiri. The monk grinned broadly. "You will make a great impression, Heika no da. Now, if you would step into the kasa?" Hotohori took a deep breath and stepped into the hat the monk held before him.  
  
Although he had braced himself for some sort of disorientation, it felt as if he had simply passed through a doorway. On the other side, he found himself in a very elegant, but sparsely appointed room. Looking around, he saw a bed on one wall, with a desk and chair on the opposite wall. A third wall was curtained -- perhaps there was a garden beyond those curtains, Hotohori thought. The last wall was taken up by a narrow altar, above which hung what must surely be a priceless wall-scroll, an artist's view of the land beyond the Gates of Peace.  
  
As Hotohori walked to examine the scroll more closely, Chichiri stepped into middle of the room, and pulled his kasa after him. "I suggest, Hotohori-sei, that you remain in this room until Nuriko-sei comes to tell you that all is well. There are a few other needy ones who will be leaving after they have breakfast, no da, and it would not do for them to realize you are here!"  
  
Hotohori nodded his assent -- it was certainly no hardship to wait in such serene surroundings. He spared a sympathetic thought for those who would be displaced by him, but he supposed there was no help for it. "Thank you, Chichiri-sei," he said softly, and was surprised to see that the monk's response was to nearly double over with laughter before saluting the emperor a final time and stepping back through the kasa.  
  
Hotohori sighted and suppressed his vexation. He wanted to inform those two annoying friends that such treatment couldn't be good for him, weak as he was, but he found his lips curling up a bit at the thought. Well, he might as well put his time here to good use, he decided. Finding a small cushion under the desk, he positioned it for meditation, and sat down to contemplate the land of death. 


	6. Konan Nights, ch 6

Hearing a scratch at the door, Hotohori roused himself from his meditative contemplation, stretched and rose gracefully to his feet. He was rather proud that he hadn't gone stiff in the time he had sat there, though he couldn't really say how long he had sat, since the windows were still curtained. He took a moment to open the curtains -- it was perhaps two hours past dawn, and he was pleased that there was indeed a lovely garden view from his room -- before he walked to the door to admit Nuriko.  
  
Only it wasn't Nuriko. Instead, a willowy young man in an informal robe of fine apple-green patterned silk was waiting politely for the emperor to emerge. The young man's eyes widened in apparent pleasure as he appraised the emperor; Hotohori caught his appreciative glances and returned them in kind. This was a boy who rewarded careful scrutiny -- black hair, green eyes beneath girlishly long lashes, fine features and perfect skin, all adorning a supple body that promised ready response to any touch -- Hotohori could almost feel envious.  
  
The boy's eyes crinkled in delight. "Oh, Obaasan will like you very much, my lord! She has asked me to greet you, since your friend could not attend on you yet, and bring you to meet her. She says perhaps you will take a little refreshment with us, though it may not be as fine as you are used to."  
  
Hotohori spent a moment wondering how much the young man knew about him, but from long practice, he did not let the social amenities lag. "A lady who could create a room as beautiful as this will probably provide daintier fare than the palace chefs'. Please, take me to her."  
  
The young man smiled in appreciation of Hotohori's manners, and led him down a well-lit corridor. After a moment, Hotohori realized that the corridor was bright with sunshine because the doors to the rooms on both sides had been opened and the windows thrown open to let in the morning air. He wondered if the empty rooms were displayed as a demonstration meant to allay his concerns about security, or if rooms here were simply aired often.  
  
"Perhaps you might tell me your name, young sir," Hotohori hazarded as they continued walking. "I am..."  
  
The boy stopped him with an upraised hand. "We do not use real names here, as a general rule," he explained with an apologetic glance backward. "You can call me Spring Robin if you like -- that's what Obaasan called me when I came here. Now, then. We are nearly to Obaasan's indoor garden, where she will be waiting."  
  
And indeed, after only a few steps more, Robin stopped and motioned Hotohori to enter a wide door that led to a room so filled with sunlight that it took the emperor's eyes a moment to adjust. He looked up to see that the entire ceiling seemed to be made of glass, an expense that he could not quite bring himself to calculate. He had not really imagined that a house of healing would command such resources.  
  
Bringing his eyes back to human level, he saw that he stood on a stone path between gardens filled with plants in the full-blooming exuberance of mid-summer, though it was not even spring outside. At the end of the path was a small terrace, where a table had been set beneath a large decorative parasol . Lounging in sun or shade were perhaps half a dozen young people as arrestingly beautiful as Robin; at the table itself sat one of the oldest women Hotohori had ever seen.  
  
It didn't take his court training in protocol to recognize the queen of this establishment. She could have given *him* lessons in regal deportment. He forced himself to walk toward her, so as not to appear to be simply staring. As he came close enough to read her eyes, he suspected that every nuance of his behavior was perfectly transparent to her. He spared a moment to be very grateful that this woman was unlikely to appear across the table from him in diplomatic negotiations. Then he wondered if he could persuade her to sit on *his* side of the negotiating table...  
  
Almost he knelt in front of her, but her voice snapped him out of his reverent trance. "So... I had thought to call your friend Utsukushisa-sama, but I see that name must go to you... I wonder what we shall call your friend now?" She looked around in apparent puzzlement, and one of the young people snickered.  
  
"How about Lord Otome?" someone suggested. There were giggles all around, and even the old woman smiled, wreathing her face in joyous wrinkles. Hotohori spared Nuriko a moment of sympathy, wondering what she would think of the name "Lord Maiden".  
  
"We will see. If it doesn't offend him, I think it is a perfect name." Turning her attention again to Hotohori, the lady patted the bench next to her. "Please, Lord Lovely. Come and sit beside me, if you please. Lovely young men so seldom attend on me..." (Robin made a rude noise, and she smiled so that dimples showed -- for one moment Hotohori glimpsed the beauty she had surely once posessed.) "I am called Hummingbird."  
  
The name caused him a small shiver -- he had heard it before, in last night's a dream. Putting the thought aside for later consideration, Hotohori made her a small reverence, grateful that he had been saved from the error of kneeling to one of his subjects. "I am honored to sit beside you, here before your court," he informed her solemnly, which led to another round of giggles from the youths at her feet, and an appreciative smile from Hummingbird.  
  
Hotohori took his seat on the bench to her right. He had seldom sat so close to anyone before -- usually seats were arranged so that he was alone at the head of any table he sat at. Even so, he had to sit a bit closer to the edge of the table than to her side, for lying against her right hip was a small, white dog who regarded him curiously when he took his seat, then ignored the emperor to attend on Hummingbird. Hotohori hid a smile at the secret snub.  
  
"So, Lord Lovely, you have come to my humble home at last," the lady offered, as maids brought tea and honeyed rice balls. "I have long wished to meet you, though perhaps not in these circumstances. You have very loyal -- and unusual -- friends."  
  
He had to smile at the arch glance she had aimed at him. "Indeed, lady, they are..." he smiled, thinking of Nuriko, "unique. Do you... often have need of stringent security here? Your people seem surprisingly well-versed in such matters."  
  
She turned her eyes on him then, easily capturing his gaze. After a moment, during which he was sure she learned everything about him she cared to know, her eyes released him. "No one ever comes here, officially, you know," she observed in a casual tone. "We see only Lord Big-ears and Lord Quickfingers, while the world might see someone else entirely, if they could enter here." Once again she stole his eyes. "You need never fear that you will be found here, or even be said to have been here, Utsukushisa-sama. Not even rumors escape our walls."  
  
He managed to drop his gaze to his plate then, both reassured and disturbed by her response. Perhaps sensing his need to collect himself, she engaged in a small verbal tussle with a maid, who had placed only a small portion of spicy noodles in front of Hummingbird. By the time the maid had been persuaded to return with a larger portion, Hotohori had recovered from his first engagement with Hummingbird, and was ready to try his luck again.  
  
"What healing regimen do you practice here, my lady?" he asked politely.  
  
She spared him only a brief glance this time. "We do not do healing precisely as you may have experienced it. What do you know of your problem?"  
  
"Only that it is apparently some sort of punishment for not doing what a god wished me to do," he answered thoughtfully, "or at least that is what I was told."  
  
"By Egao-sama, I presume?"  
  
He smiled briefly at her designation of Chichiri as "Lord Smiley", and nodded.  
  
"I spoke with him and your other friend at some length last night. In fact, it is not as simple as... punishment." She frowned for a moment, as though searching for the precise words she needed. "I think what happened is this. At some point in the past, perhaps as long as several years ago, you created a small imbalance in your ki. Such things are common -- we all have thoughts we would prefer not to face, and such things cause blockages in our ki. In the normal course of events, this imbalance might have cleared itself as you learned better habits of thinking. Or at worse it would have created a small weakness that an opponent could use to harm you.  
  
"In your case, however, you attracted the attention of a god, or at least a great power. What he seems to have done is to take this small imbalance, created by you, and, if you permit the analogy, he tied a knot in your ki, anchored by this small imbalance. Because of this 'knot', you can not summon the energy to function at the high level required by your position in life. What Egao-sama attempted to do was to untie that knot, but of course he failed, for he is not as powerful as a god. Almost as soon as he withdrew his attention, the knot re-formed, more tightly than before.  
  
"The only way to untie this knot is to redress the original imbalance. And no one but you can do that. Egao-sama cannot do so, and neither can I. But... I can do what Egao-sama cannot. I can provide you a safe place to do the work you must do."  
  
"If I knew how to do this, I would do it now and get back to my court. Lady, we are at war! Surely..."  
  
The gaze she turned on him was full of intelligent sympathy, but it left no room for self-important posturing. "You cannot simply will the knot undone. You must find a balance you have lost. It is a very simple matter, but it may take you a little time to discover the imablance before you can correct it."  
  
"Do you know the nature of the imbalance?" His voice was soft, but with a dangerous edge. In response, her expression grew cautious. He was the emperor and she his subject. The fact lay between them, unstated but understood.  
  
"You could order me to tell you," she acknowledged, refusing to drop her eyes. "I believe it would be a mistake. Please, hear me out. I believe that your friends, Otome-sama in particular, have already made progress in helping you to balance your emotions. If you continue to work with them here, I believe you will heal yourself in a day or two, making yourself free of both the deity's interference and the original imbalance. If, however, you try to force the healing -- if you demand an explanation of what you are failing to see and then try to act as if you were in balance -- you will very likely make matters worse. Even if you do exactly what the god wants you to do, I do not know if you will return to full function. And it is likely that doing what the god expects of you will require even more of you than your usual level of competence.  
  
"I know you to be a man who listens to good counsel, Utsukushisa-sama. If you trust your friends, trust their faith in me -- in all of us here." She gestured at the young people surrounding them.  
  
Hotohori dropped his gaze then. He did trust Nuriko and Chichiri. For their sake, he would trust Hummingbird. "If this god wants me to preserve the realm, why is he preventing me from doing my job *now*, when the realm's need is greatest?" he asked in frustruation.  
  
She sighed. "I know very little of your life, Lord Lovely, nor of your duties. But I have lived four times your span, and I have seen the gods' work in the lives of many men. I think that the gods' perspective is broader than ours, in time as well as space. What I would guess is that, in the gods' view, this war -- or at least these initial battles -- are of less consequence to the realm than some other matter that they feel you have not attended to."  
  
Hotohori closed his eyes and sighed in frustration. Hummingbird touched his hand soothingly. "It is not that I think you have shirked your duty, Lord Lovely," she reassured him. "Or at least you have never meant to do so. But sometimes a small good can blind us to a greater good. And often our pain can make us turn our eyes away from something we might otherwise learn. Bide with us a day or two, Lord Lovely. We will do our best to ease your heart so that you can bear to look at all of yourself, all of your memories. And -- we offer something else you need, I think. Here, you can be what you like, for we will not demand that you fulfill any particular role. I think that your life does not offer much freedom to experiment, ne? You are never free of the expectations of those around you... except here."  
  
Hotohori found that he was fighting tears, though he could not have said why. Surely he had nothing to complain of in his life -- every want he might have was taken care of almost before he know what it was. Yet here... he might dare to want what was impossible at court...  
  
"Ah!" Hummingbird's attention had drifted from him (or perhaps, she had deliberately given him a private moment) and she was now looking down the path he had arrived by, beaming with pleasure. "Your very good friend has found his way back to us." Hotohori looked up quickly, to see Nuriko advancing toward them, a wry smile on her face.  
  
"Now then, Lady Hummingbird, what is it your maid has been telling me about your young reprobates calling me "Lord Maiden"? I may have to knock some heads together here."  
  
A small gale of giggling made Nuriko turn and glare balefully at the offending parties, who only laughed harder. Nuriko threw up her hands and turned to the queen of this small court. Hummingbird's eyes were crinkled above a very solemn mouth. "I am no lady, as you know very well. And... I think the name suits you. Don't you agree?"  
  
"All right, *fine*," Nuriko grumbled. "I'll be Lord Maiden, if only because it will be so amusing to twit that silly monk as Lord Smiley. But... how come HE gets to be Lord Lovely?" she finished in an aggrieved tone, to the increased merriment of the young men and women at her feet.  
  
"I'm afraid it is simply right of rank, dear one," Hummingbird responded soothingly. "Would you care to join us at table here?"  
  
"Thank you, Hummingbird, but I ate around dawn, before Egao-sama dragged me back out to the ship for a spot of manual labor. What I would like is to bathe, if you wouldn't mind."  
  
Hummingbird smiled, and turned to Hotohori. "Would you also like to bathe, Lord Lovely? Our bathing facilities are rather special -- both of you can bathe without embarrassment, and you can both get to know the children. Robin and Narcissus will attend you, if you permit, and the ladies may attend Otome-sama." Nuriko seemed to be about to protest, but Hummingbird subdued her with a raised eyebrow. "There is no need to guard your privacy here, dear one. I think you have not often had opportunities to be attended in the bath -- should you not grasp such an opportunity while it offers?"  
  
Nuriko smiled then. "Now I know why Butterfly says you can persuade rocks to swim like fish. Very well, ladies. Come and show me the joys of the bath."  
  
Hotohori also rose and offered a bow to Hummingbird. "I will also sample the pleasures of your bathing rooms, Lady."  
  
"Excellent. Perhaps we can meet here again in two hours. I believe Otome-sama mentioned she wanted to tell you the story of a lady he calls Pearl Butterfly, who is the Butterfly I have told the children about many times. I am sure they will wish to hear the story, and I would like to hear it as well. In the meantime, I will rest a bit. I usually do so at this time." She rose and, with the covert help of a waiting maid, made her way along another stone path to another door, the small white dog at her heels.  
  
Hotohori followed the two young men to the bathing chamber, which was a large room filled, like most of the rooms here, with sunshine. In this case, small windows high in the wall brought light in from three directions, yet guarded the bathers' privacy. In the center of the room was a large pool that already steamed gently. The room -- including the pool -- was divided in half by a lovely screens of carved ivory. On the other side of the screen, Hotohori could hear the chatter of Nuriko and her lady attendants, punctuated by occasional splashes and laughter.  
  
Moving as smoothly as his body servants at the castle, Robin and Narcissus removed Hotohori's robes and laid them on benches provided. Hotohori used the time to look over the young men, who had stripped to loincloths to keep their own robes from being soaked. Robin was as lovely as Hotohori had imagined, and Narcissus, with soft white hair and deep blue eyes, matched him in beauty.  
  
The young men led the emperor to a stool and, when he was comfortably seated, began to wash him with gentle strokes of sponges and towels. As they worked, they chatted in quiet, soothing voices, about small things -- the way one of the maids liked to tease them, the beauty of the gardens when spring arrived, a colorful bird that had perched outside Narcissus's window this morning. Gradually they included Hotohori in the conversation, getting him to talk about gardens in the palace, to describe the most beautiful women he had seen at court, even to discuss what fashions were current in the capital, and what he thought of them. The emperor had an unaccustomed feeling of being like other young men, a sense of comraderie that he had never experienced in this way before. He had never felt the lack of such inclusive warmth, simply because he had never known such a thing was possible; now he relaxed into their hands and into their acceptance as well.  
  
An agrieved cry and a shout of laughter made him look up suddenly. Narcissus was soaking wet, laughing and shaking his fist at the same time, while Robin was standing with an empty bathing jar, pointing at his companion and laughing. Hotohori's lips curled up involuntarily -- he would never have tolerated such antics in the palace, but here he found it amusing. The next moment, Narcissus strode over to Robin and, wrapping his right hand in Robin's hair, pulled his head back and kissed him full on the lips. For a moment they stood so, fiercely locked together, and then Robin was released. "I'll get you later," Narcissus promised in a quiet but intense voice.  
  
Robin licked his lips once, and put a hand up to rub his skull where Narcissus had pulled his hair. Then he turned his attention on Hotohori, who felt himself pinned to the chair, torn between shock and arousal.  
  
"Now look," Robin exclaimed. "You've embarrassed Utsukushisa-sama! Come, Lord Lovely. You're certainly clean enough to soak now, and it will relax you." When Hotohori did not immediately move, he laughed. "Don't worry, I won't let savage boy over there bother you. Come soak, and I'll give you a nice massage afterwards."  
  
Hotohori managed to stand and walk to the bath, where the two young men, once again as coolly correct as his own body servants, conducted him into the water and retired to a distance to talk softly while he let the water relax him.  
  
His emotions were chaotic, which in itself made him nervous. In the years since his mother's death, when he had assumed the full responsibility of his reign, he had learned to put aside strong emotions that might affect his judgement, since there was so little margin for error in the decisions he made daily. He enforced that discipline now, calming his breathing and letting the water embrace and soothe him until he was able to examine his reactions more calmly. Truthfully, he felt no attraction to either of the young men, much to his relief. But the passion that had passed between them, that had the power to shake his bones. He wondered how often he would remember that moment in the next days, whether the memory would be with him all his life. And the companionship they had shared with him drew him as well.  
  
Allowing himself to relax further, the lovely wall scroll from his room materialized before his inner eye. This morning, he had felt the pull of that peaceful country -- not the urge to die, but the wish to put down his daily burden of responsibility. Now, he had to acknowledge an opposite pull, toward the bonds of love, even if it meant taking even more responsibilities. He wondered if he could reconcile those two desires, if he could somehow grasp both of them and weave them into himself. He could try, at any rate.  
  
He floated to the side then, and his two attendants quickly came to help him out, wrap him in soft towels, and brush and dress his hair. The last dregs of tension ebbed under their gentle hands and soothing voices, and he drifted into a state of complete relaxation. Even the sensation of the hands and voices of his companions faded from his consciousness.  
  
"I trust you bring me good news rather than reporting another failure," a deep, rather menacing voice observed.  
  
Hotohori wanted to look around himself, but felt as if he was frozen in position. Straining his eyes, he thought he made out vague forms through a gray fog.  
  
"Yes, Heika," a quiet, confident voice replied. "I believe that Suzaku-no-Miko is likely to depart Konan within a few days. At that time, we will implement the plans I have discussed with you previously. We should have the needed artifacts within one month from her departure, and at that point we will be able to unleash total war against Konan-koku."  
  
The mist surrounding Hotohori seemed to be thinning. He could make out a dais, which held a throne not much different from his own. On the throne sat a man in rich robes -- it had to be the emperor of Kotou, Hotohori decided, as details of the room's decorations became clearer. He examined his rival with curiosity -- a thickset man in his thirties, a little bloated with rich living. His face came into focus -- a sensual mouth, a little twisted with habitual contempt for those around him, cold black eyes that might hold a touch of fear for the man who knelt before him. "Good," the emperor replied, in the voice Hotohori had first heard. "We will reach the capital of Konan-koku when?"  
  
"Not long after midsummer, certainly, Heika." Hotohori could see only the back of the kneeling man, but he was powerfully built and his posture, though correctly subservient, suggested supreme self-confidence. His hair was startlingly blond and long, bound into a thick braid and coiled neatly at his neck.  
  
"We will capture the emperor then?"  
  
"Almost certainly. Heika, I must urge you again to kill him as soon as he is in our hands."  
  
"And I must remind you again that killing one emperor might give some people ideas about killing another."  
  
"As always, you are wise, Heika. Yet, I urge you to consider the particulars of this case. Konan-koku no koutei has no heir. If he is killed, there can be no outcome but civil war. If a strong occupying force, commanded by a strong emperor, offers an alternative to such chaos, it is likely that the populace would support the side that offers order and security. In such circumstances, we could take the country with minimal losses."  
  
"Surely holding him captive will have the same effect as killing him, if he has made no provision for his absence!"  
  
"Perhaps, Heika. But he has built up a very adequate and functional government structure. It is possible they might rally behind him, even if he is held captive, and overcome their differences sufficiently to resist us for a time. It is not his physical absence that will dishearten his people, but rather the lack of any credible leadership -- which can only be accomplished if he is killed."  
  
"General Nakago, we can't kill him in any case without risking the wrath of Suzaku-shin. You must have heard what happened when my father tried to have his father assassinated. It took our armies nearly ten years to regain the ground we lost in the six months after that attack failed."  
  
The kneeling man acknowledged the emperor's point with a deep bow. "Indeed, Heika. However, I believe that Seiryuu-no-miko will be able to neutralize Suzaku-shin's influence."  
  
The emperor grunted softly, then sighed. "Well, general, *if* you manage that, I will certainly reconsider your suggestion. Now, what about the northern..."  
  
The voices faded, to be replaced by a clamor of more familiar voices. Opening his eyes, Hotohori saw that Nuriko and the maids had joined Robin and Narcissus, and all of them were touching him as well as calling his name. He tried to sit up, but dizziness overcame him immediately. Strong arms lifted him and set him upright on a bench against the wall. One of the maids ran out for tea. Nuriko and Robin sat on either side of him, holding him upright. Hotohori was shocked to see that Nuriko's face was white with terror and her eyes shimmered with tears.  
  
"I think..." Hotohori's voice sounded weak in his ears. He tried again. "I think I'm all right but... I've been having... dreams." 


	7. Konan Nights, ch 7

When Hotohori finally made it back to his room with Robin's help, he found Chichiri and Nuriko already waiting for him there. Nuriko was sitting rather forlornly on his bed, and she rose immediately to offer her help in settling him. But it was Chichiri that caught the emperor's attention -- he stood staring intently at the wall scroll of the Gates of Peace with a look of such painful longing on his unmasked face that Hotohori felt a thrill of fear for his friend. But when Chichiri turned to face the emperor, his expression was self-deprecating. "Useless to search a painting for those one has lost, no da," he remarked wryly, and sat on the desk.  
  
As soon as Hotohori was settled to Robin's satisfaction, the young man walked to the door, but stood facing them before leaving. "If my lords please, I believe Obaasan will wish to hear about these dreams, and she may well have had experience with such things before," he offered diffidently.  
  
Hotohori nodded. "We will meet with her in a short time, if she is willing. However, I think we had better discuss some of the ... information, if it was that ... in the dreams among ourselves first."  
  
Robin nodded. "I'll tell her," he promised, and withdrew.  
  
As soon as he was well away, Hotohori filled Nuriko and Chichiri in on both dreams, though after consideration he decided not to mention the girl he had spoken with in the harem, nor that exceedingly ... flattering ... painting he had seen. When he finished, both his friends were silent for a few minutes, until Hotohori's impatience overcame him and he broke into their thoughts.  
  
"How much of what I dreamed is true?" he asked.  
  
Nuriko shrugged. "The discussion with Chichiri took place as you described it, as well as the meeting with Butterfly. Beyond that... In my own dream, the one I described to you, some of it was true -- I saw the palace as it really is, for instance, though I had never been there. But some of it was... I don't know, maybe wishful thinking."   
  
"Or maybe bait," Hotohori remarked grimly, "since it had the effect of getting you to do what Suzaku-shin wanted, ne?"  
  
Nuriko nodded glumly. Finally Chichiri spoke up.  
  
"I think perhaps we must take you back to the palace after all, Hotohori-sei."  
  
"Why?" Hotohori and Nuriko protested in unison.  
  
"Because I do not know how these dreams are accomplished," the priest replied in a troubled tone. "If the images are merely inserted into your mind, that is safe enough. But if part of you is truly roaming to the places you dream of, I am very concerned for your safety. Nakago is an extremely dangerous man, Hotohori-sei. If he detected your roaming spirit, he might well attack you magically. I have fought him several times now, and while I have managed to hold him off long enough to escape, I think that if I were forced to stay and fight, I would lose. He has a very ... disciplined mind." As he spoke, the priest rose and paced across the room until he stood facing the windows that looked into the gardens.  
  
"How would returning him to the palace help?" Nuriko asked.  
  
Chichiri turned to face her. "The palace is warded," he explained simply. "It is built of magic, as well as of stone, and Suzaku-shin's shrine is an integral part of its structure. It would be difficult for Seiryuu-shichi-sei to infiltrate there -- not impossible, as we have already seen, but difficult. It may be that, while he was within the palace, Hotohori-sei's wandering was confined to the palace by those wards. Perhaps he was able to travel to Kutou today only because he was outside the protections of the palace."  
  
"This place isn't warded?" Hotohori asked skeptically. Somehow, it seemed unlikely that Hummingbird's establishment was undefended.  
  
"Oh, it surely is, na no da! It is a difficult place to find, Hotohori-sei, unless one has need of it, in which case one would have to work hard to avoid finding it. But... there are few wards against physical or magical attack, since they are not really needed, in the ordinary course of Hummingbird's affairs."  
  
"But the healing..." Nuriko wailed.  
  
"...will be of no use if he is injured or killed as a result of these dreams," Chichiri finished firmly.  
  
Hotohori held up a hand to forestall further discussion for a time so that he could think. "If I return to the palace," he asked at length, "do you *know* that I will be safe from either the dreams or magical attack?"  
  
"No," Chichiri admitted.  
  
"And is Hummingbird correct when she tells me the best chance of my healing the problem that is keeping me away from my normal duties is for me to stay here and work with her people?"  
  
"It is very likely, Hotohori-sei."  
  
The emperor took a deep breath, and let it out in a frustrated sigh. "Then I think I have no choice but to stay here, Chichiri-sei. The loss of one of the shichi-sei, now that we can no longer perform the original ceremony, wouldn't..."  
  
"The loss of the *Emperor* of *Konan*..." Nuriko burst out.  
  
"The emperor is of no use to the realm at the moment," Hotohori observed bluntly. "Changing that is the first priority."  
  
Chichiri considered this. "What about the expedition, then," he asked. "Perhaps we should move a little faster..."  
  
Hotohori shook his head. "*If* that part of the dreams is accurate, then Nakago is observing us closely enough and has laid his plans carefully enough, that you cannot counter those plans by leaving a day or two early."  
  
Nuriko shrugged. "We knew from the beginning that they would try and stop us. Nothing in that dream is new information... except for Nakago's plan to kill you, Hotohori-sama."  
  
Chichiri walked back to the desk. "If you insist on remaining here, Hotohori-sei, I think you should not be left alone. Nuriko-sei has the means to summon me -- if you enter one of these dreams again, I wish to be here immediately. It may be I can ward you ... if indeed your spirit is wandering."  
  
"Why don't you just stay here?" Nuriko asked.  
  
"Besides checking on matters at the ship, I have a few other things I need to be doing," the priest replied. "In particular, I may wish to address a few pointed remarks to Suzaku-shin about allies who are endangering her servants, no da. I might even..." his good eye became thoughtful as he considered possible actions. Reaching into his kesa, he pulled out his mask and clapped it on his face. "Sareba, no da!" he exclaimed as he stepped into the hat and disappeared.  
  
A moment later, he popped back out from the waist up.. He mopped his brow dramatically with one hand and remarked. "This place was a good idea, Nuriko-sei no da, but ... I must say I find it very uncomfortable to hang around here, no da." Then he sank back down and the hat disppeared with a pop.  
  
"Clown." Nuriko remarked in a pained voice.  
  
Hotohori's lips curled upward involuntarily. "Give me an arm, my lady, and let's go see Hummingbird, ne?"  
  
Once again, Hummingbird was sitting in state, surrounded by her "children", who seemed to be engaged in a word game of some sort. They became quiet when Hotohori and Nuriko entered, though, and Robin jumped up to help settle Hotohori on the bench next to Hummingbird. That lady looked him over critically and asked, "May I please touch your hand, Lord Lovely?"  
  
He nodded, and she took his left hand in both of hers. After a moment, she nodded in satisfaction. "You are making good progress, Utsukushisa-sama. We could replace the energy lost in that dreaming state but... I think you are not ready for that, yet. In any case, you will be replenished in the natural course of things by a good night's sleep, and I think that will suffice.  
  
"Now, tell me of these dreams."  
  
Hotohori had to smile -- he knew a royal command when he heard it. Briefly he recounted the dreams, without specifying much about the conversations he had heard. He also mentioned Chichiri's concern. Hummingbird listened thoughtfully, and nodded when he had finished.  
  
"I think Egao-sama is wise to be concerned. Robin and your own Otome-sama would be the best people to keep you under observation, I think -- either of them will be able to sense if you enter this dreaming state." Apparently, that concluded the matter in her estimation, for she nodded once, decisively, and announced. "Now, I beg that you will allow Otome-sama to tell his story, or rather, Butterfly's story, for we are all anxious to hear it."  
  
Hotohori was a little disppointed to have the matter of his dreams dismissed so casually, but he nodded assent, and Nuriko, who had been seated on Hummingbird's left, took up the tale immediately.  
  
"As I have already told Utsukushisa-sama, and as you all know already, Butterfly was sold into a brothel -- of sorts -- when she was very young. She grew up there under the protection and tutelage of the proprietress of that brothel, who we may call Pearl Dove, since she was Pearl Butterfly's teacher.  
  
"Now it happens that this was not an ordinary brothel, such as you might find near any army garrison or in any sizable town. For one thing, ordinary brothels usually aim to attract one particular class of men, and they set themselves to offer what that sort of man wants. A brothel for common soldiers will hardly be similar to one patronized by young nobles in a provincial capital.  
  
"But Pearl Dove's establishment attracted both fewer men, and a greater variety of men, than any ordinary brothel. On any given night, not every woman would be entertaining a client, but one client might be a high minister who happened to be travelling in the vacinity, and another might be a minor officer or merchant. Pearl Dove's art was that she made each man feel at ease, but pampered, in her house.  
  
"One night a new client came to Pearl Dove's establishment, a common soldier from the nearby garrison. He was, perhaps, a step below the sort of clients she usually got, but I am sure he never knew that. She served the man dinner with her own hands, plain fare that was familiar to him, but with enough small touches of luxury that he felt he had received a feast. Then she introduced him to the women of the house so that he might make his selection. And when he had retired with his chosen companion, Pearl Dove summoned Butterfly for instruction.  
  
"Now it happens that at this time, Butterfly was a young maiden, and only recently ripened at that. You needn't look so skeptical, Utsukushisa-sama. It is true that Butterfly had witnessed the secrets of the bedchamber for a year or more, as a student must study the work of her teachers, but it was not Pearl Dove's practice to sell the bodies of children. Nor of unwilling women, either -- had Butterfly been of a different temperament, she would have been apprenticed into another life.  
  
"On this night, Pearl Dove required Butterfly to observe the coupling of the new man with his chosen maid. 'Observe closely and report fully,' Pearl Dove instructed her, 'for I think we will see a great deal of this man.'  
  
"So Butterfly went to observe, as she had often done before, and she saw at once that all was not well. For although the maid was charm itself, and fire incarnate, the young man's spear could not be persuaded to rise. Worse, he was becoming angry, and Butterfly was tempted to leave her post to summon help. But the soldier's companion, who had herself after all been trained by Pearl Dove, managed to calm the man's anger, and then hold and comfort him when he wept in shame and frustration on her lovely breasts. And when at last the man slept, and his partner signalled that nothing more would happen that night, Butterfly rushed off to report to Pearl Dove.  
  
"Pearl Dove listened with great attention, and asked a great many questions, both about every word the man had uttered, and about details of his behavior. Then she was silent for a time.  
  
"'Butterfly,' she said at length, 'I think that the time has come for you to enter into the fullness of this life you were meant to lead. If possible, I would like him to open your gate into womanhood. Are you willing to walk this path?'  
  
"'I am, my teacher, but I must say that I have no idea how I will be able to do so. For if my sister, who is so much more skilled, could not rouse him, however shall I?'  
  
"'When the time comes, you will rouse him,' was Pearl Dove's reply, and Butterfly nodded in submission, for she trusted Pearl Dove completely.  
  
"The next morning, Pearl Dove had a rich breakfast prepared and served to the man on dishes lovelier than he had ever seen. Of course it is likely he hadn't really seen much during his lifetime, so it was not terribly hard to impress him! All the women of the house, dressed beautifully but quite modestly, attended on the bewildered man. When he was sated and just beginning to preen a bit under their admiration, Pearl Dove came in and dismissed them.  
  
"'Sir,' she began, with tears trembling in her eyes, 'I have only just heard how we have failed you, and I am mortified.'  
  
"He lost a bit of his good spirits then, but he met her eyes squarely. "'No, my lady, the failure is not yours. I really should not have come, because I have been unable to give or receive pleasure for months now. But when someone told me about how wonderful your house was, I hoped... Well, it is wonderful, better than I was told, and so the fault is surely mine.'  
  
Pearl Dove would not be calmed. "'But you see, sir, we cannot accept this failure, no matter how gallantly you try to take it on yourself! Sir, we can offer no recompense but this: from this day forward, you are welcome at this house. You will be offered all that we have to give, but you need not take anything that will cause you pain. If you wish to come of an evening, we will feed you as well as we may, and you may retire with any or none, as it pleases you. I beg you, sir, that you will accept this offer, so that we may in small degree make amends.'  
  
"Well, he did his best to refuse, but Butterfly likes to say that Pearl Dove could persuade rocks to swim like fishes. He gave her his word that he would do as she begged, and although he stayed away for the next several days, he was soon in the habit of coming to that house every evening that his duty allowed.  
  
"Now every night, the man retired alone into what seemed to him the most sumptuous bedchamber in the empire.But although he retired alone, one of the experienced women was always near, behind screens, in case she was needed in the night. And one night, when no moon shone and the sky was black with clouds, the appointed maid heard the man's breathing change, and then the sound of muffled weeping. She rose silently as a wraith and brought Pearl Dove, with Butterfly at her heels, to the door of the room.  
  
"Signalling for Butterfly to follow, but to remain silent in the shadows, Pearl Dove entered the room so softly that the man did not hear her. He believed himself alone until the moment he felt her hand stroking his face, and although he wanted to acknowledge her, his soft weeping wracked him so that he could not speak. And still Pearl Dove gently stroked his face as if pulling the pain out of him with her hands. And Butterfly watched, her heart aching for his pain.  
  
"At last, his weeping was spent, and he sat up. Pearl Dove signalled, and Butterfly crept forward with a small flask of wine and a lovely glazed winecup, then retreated to the shadows again as Pearl Dove poured for the soldier, and made him drink.  
  
"For a long time there was perfect silence except for the occasional movements as the soldier drank the wine Pearl Dove offered in silence. Then the man found his voice.  
  
"'I am sorry to trouble you, my lady,' he began, but she stopped him.  
  
"'I think perhaps this night holds bitter memories, sir,' she observed in a low voice. 'There is no shame in recalling them, nor in expressing the pain they bring.'  
  
"He looked at her in wonder, then, and Butterfly says that although Pearl Dove always looked beautiful, and much younger than her true age, on that night she looked like a kindly village grandmother, though her beauty was not erased. 'Tell me, then,' she said quietly, but so persuasively that the young man could not disobey.  
  
"He told her of a night exactly one year before, when a dying peasant came to the garrison. The farmer arrived bleeding from many shallow knife wounds, and weak from running for nearly an hour in such a state. But he would not accept any care until he had delivered his message: that bandits had raided his village, and destroyed it.  
  
"The captain drew the pertinent details from him as efficiently as possible, but though he was treated by the garrison's healers, the peasant died that night.  
  
"The soldiers were marched double-time toward the raided village, and they arrived there within two hours. It was not soon enough, though. The village had already been sacked and fired, and every villager cut down in the streets -- or so they believed at first.  
  
"They proceeded according to the book, checking every cottage for bandits who might have foolishly remained, but they found only the expected slaughter and ruin -- until they reached the small inn at the center of town. There they found not merely ruin, but horror.  
  
"It seems that someone had gathered together all the helpless ones of the village, the old and young and ill and crippled, all were gathered into an inner room of the inn. And there they had been tortured and mutilated and left scattered about like rejected toys. The only mercy is, that they were dead when the soldiers found them...  
  
"Counting the peasant who had died bearing the message, fifty-seven people had been slaughtered in that village -- a village within a few minutes' horseback ride of one of your Majesty's garrisons -- and not even a frontier garrison. The soldiers felt it as an insult as well as an outrage, and it is very well for the bandits that none of them had lingered for the soldiers to discover.  
  
"It seemed to the captain that the best course was to alert all the villages in his district, and also to place soldiers in places that were not protected by walls. Accordingly, he divided his men up in the way he felt would be most useful, and sent them to defend every defencible village.  
  
"Now our soldier, or rather Butterfly's, was sent with two of his comrades to a peaceful and hardworking little village. He was lodged in the home of a fairly prosperous merchant who had three daughters, but no son. He soon settled into the family's life whenever he was not on patrol. The girls reminded him of his own sisters, and he was soon teasing them and supporting them as older brothers always do.  
  
"One day he was in the market place, not in uniform, for he was not on active patrol at that time. He spotted a child sneaking among the stalls, intent, it seemed, on stealing something to eat. She was no child he had seen before, and he thought he had met every inhabitant of the place. Moreover, she looked as if she was not far from starving, and he knew of no one in the village who was in such need.  
  
"His curiosity aroused and his soft heart touched, he set out to follow the child without being seen -- no easy matter, for she was wary as a wild creature, and nearly as cunning at disappearing. Still, he was a patient and able man, and though he lost her trail several times that day, he managed always to catch sight of her again, and to follow her.  
  
"Imagine his dismay, Hotohori-sama, when she led him directly to a camp of bandits. He knew at once that these must be the men his captain sought, for surely two such bands could not operate within reach of the garrison. Careful to avoid detection, he made his way back to the village and sent one of his comrades to report to the captain. Then he crept back to the camp to keep watch.  
  
"Now this soldier was not an inexperienced man, and he had spied on bandits before. He found nothing about the camp remarkable, except the presence of the girl he had followed there. He supposed she must be either a prize of battle, stolen by one of the men, or else the child of one of them, but in either case, it seemed to him that she must be in danger from every scruffy fellow within that camp, and he resolved to get her out before the fighting started.  
  
"That evening he saw his chance, for the girl left the camp with a bucket, as though she intended to fetch water. He circled around and met her at the river, and he persuaded her to come back to the village with him, even explaining why she must not be in the encampment that night.  
  
"She listened with eyes wide and shining, he thought, with hope that she might find a new life. And she very willingly followed him to the village, where he installed her in his own room and commended her to the care of his adopted sisters.  
  
"He had scarcely left the village to return to watch the bandit camp when he caught sight of the main body of the bandits, coming to raid the village. For a moment he could not think what to do. He was sure that a large body of troops must by then have been gathered nearby, preparing to strike the bandit camp. However, there was only one man of his company left in the village, and there was no way to make his way back to warn that man without engaging the bandits. Engaging them, he judged, would result in his own death without even doing anything useful for the village.  
  
"He reviewed what he knew of the terrain around the village, wishing he had spent offduty time in the surrounding countryside rather than the marketplace. At last he decided to try to make for a small hill very near the main village gate, but not on the path the bandits were using. By dint of luck and training he made it there, and immediately set off his signal flare to alert his comrade below, and with luck the main force as well. It was a perfect evening for his purpose -- the flare shone brightly in the gathering darkness of a clear evening sky.  
  
"When that was accomplished, he began creating defenses around himself and his flare, for he could not afford to have the signal overrun, in case his company was not yet close enough to see it. Again, luck supplied what training required, and he was able to sit back in a secure spot overlooking the village below.  
  
"The fighting was fierce, and the single soldier left in the village was quickly overcome. The villagers also defended themselves, and with some skill, for the had had time to prepare them for such a raid. Nevertheless, the soldier was forced to sit and watch what promised to be wholesale slaughter, for the sake of the signal flare.  
  
"It was the correct choice, as he well knew, for his Majesty's soldiers are not sent into battle unprepared, and this man was a veteran besides. Yet his heart was sick with anger as he waited, unable to help until finally he could hear the horns of his company approaching, and was sure that they knew their objective. Then, finally, he joined the fight in the streets of the village.  
  
"To make matters short, a few villagers were saved and the bandits were all killed or captured. The merchant and his family, however, were neither among the dead nor the living. So as soon as his duties permitted, the soldier rushed back to the house that he had dwelt in for nearly a month, and found it standing, untouched by the fire that had taken a few cottages before the soldiers could arrive.  
  
"When he entered, he found what he had most feared to see. The merchant, his wife, and the girls who had become his sisters were lying dead, and much worse than dead, for their dying had not been quick or clean. He stood transfixed by the shock of it for a long while, until a small sound behind him made him turn, expecting to kill a rat. But it was no rat.  
  
"He found himself facing the girl he had rescued that afternoon, her scrawny body clothed in what the merchant's daughters could offer. The clothing was bloodied and torn beyond repair now, and she held a long knife. The worst thing, though, was that she wore the same wide-eyed expression of joy that he had seen earlier. Now he wondered whether she had been looking forward to the slaughter to come.  
  
"She launched herself at him, and she was quick as a striking cobra. But he was a trained soldier, and held a much longer knife than hers -- she never stood a chance against him. He left her body on the killing floor and went to report to his captain."  
  
Nuriko stopped for a moment to steal a glance at Hotohori. It was purely the emperor who sat opposite her; Hotohori the man seemed to have been completely submerged. His face was a completely neutral mask, as if he dared let no emotion show. Even in the solemnity of full court, he was not as stiff as this. Yet his left hand, curiously, was stroking the small dog's silky fur over and over. She wondered how he must feel, hearing that such events had taken place within his realm, but she dared not ask any question of the stone man before her.  
  
"Please continue," he commanded in an unnaturally calm voice.  
  
"When the soldier had revealed all that burdened him, Pearl Dove had a soothing drink brought to him, then sat beside him to comfort him until he fell at last into a deep sleep.  
  
"Very early in the morning, she summoned Butterfly to a room far from the sleeping soldier. The two of them decided on a plan for healing the soldier's heart. For, you see, the true difference between Pearl Dove's house and the usual sorts of brothels was this: men wounded in spirit came to Pearl Dove and her ladies, and they made them whole. This was to be Butterfly's first difficult healing task, the end of her apprenticeship, if you will.  
  
"So it was that in the coming days, Butterfly was always in attendance on the soldier when he ate, and before he slept. She spoke diffidently, but often, of the admiration she truly felt for him, and of the gratitude for all the good he had done for the villagers, and even for the dark child. For, she explained, she had been as poor as that once, and he had been right to help such a creature, since he could not have known her true nature.  
  
"But she never attended him when he bathed, nor slept near him as the other young women did. For though she would be the one to complete the healing, she knew that he must not see her as a brothel-girl, or the healing could not take place.  
  
"The other young women helped the soldier bathe each night, and they loved to tease him as he bathed. Often their chatter caused his spear to rise, and they pretended not to notice, for surely it would have subsided if they had tried to encourage him. Instead, they made up outrageous stories about clients they claimed to have served, making him laugh and blush and burn all at the same time!  
  
"Also, the women of the brothel had made him fine clothes to wear after his bath, and for sleeping as well. The bathing girls loved to dress him in them, and were fulsome in complimenting him about his appearance, dressed like an emperor, as they told him. I promise you, even in the promises, being compared to the emperor is a prop for a man's vanity, and the soldier carried himself rather proudly after his baths.  
  
"So it went for many days. Young women constantly aroused him, but so playfully that he never felt that he might fail them. Butterfly played a different role -- she was a serving maid, he thought, who admired him, but dared not approach too closely.  
  
"A day came when the maids teased the soldier as he bathed, and his spear rose, and when one of them softly brushed his breasts with her hand while helping him on with his robes, his spear did not subside. And a day came soon after, when he slapped at one of the girls' impertinent hands, and then playfully spanked her buttocks, and his spear, far from subsiding, grew very proud indeed. All this was reported to Butterfly, and she began to spend more time with him, and to flirt very demurely, as though afraid he was too grand for her.  
  
"It did not take many more days for him to begin courting her, and though she was demure, she definitely did not discourage him. Even more important, she did not rush him, for she knew he could not endure failure now.  
  
"Finally, the evening came when she and Pearl Dove judged he was ready. During the afternoon, Butterfly was purified and prepared for her first night of love and then, just before the soldier was due to arrive, her sisters took her to the bathing chamber and began to bathe her. As they did so, they stroked her cunningly, making her breasts strain against their hands and her gates of pleasure weep sweet tears. But though they made her burn, they gave her no satisfaction, though her eyes pleaded for release... And it was no accident that the soldier accidentally came in on this little ritual. Even though he fled the bathchamber in embarrassment, it was time for him to see what awaited him, if he had only the courage to ask.  
  
"Well, he was not a man lacking in courage, as you have already seen. He claimed his maid that night and gave her what she burned for, not once, but several times, with great joy and surprising skill. So it was that he made Butterfly fully a woman, even as she returned to him his manhood."  
  
Nuriko finished with a small flourish, and bowed when Hummingbird's "children" clapped their hands in delight and blew her kisses. Hummingbird herself leaned slightly to her left and, as Nuriko leaned to meet her, Hummingbird kissed Nuriko's cheek. "That was beautifully told, child. You have more than one talent, I see."  
  
Turning to Hotohori, she patted his hand absently, and he felt his own roiled emotions soothed. "I fear I must retire for a small rest, if Utsukushisa-sama permits. I am afraid that I tire easily these days." Robin had already rushed up to help her rise, and she leaned on him just a bit as she made her way from the terrace to the path she had taken out earlier. "Come along, children," she commanded. "We can leave our guests to converse between themselves, I think."   
  
As the young people rose, obedient to her wishes, she cast a quizzical glance back at Hotohori -- no, he realized -- at the small dog that had moved from Hummingbird's hip to his in the course of Nuriko's story. The dog seemed to feel its mistress's eyes, for it suddenly rose and scampered after her. Satisfied that her entourage was complete, Hummingbird swept from the room slowly, but with enormous dignity. 


	8. Konan Nights, ch 8

After Hummingbird had left, Hotohori sat quietly for a time, gazing at the garden surrounding him. Finally, he sighed. "I think perhaps there are one or two things you neglected to tell me," he observed quietly. "Is this the establishment known as the Crimson Moon, by any chance?"  
  
"It is, Heika," Nuriko responded formally.  
  
Startled by her tone, Hotohori turned his eyes toward Nuriko, who looked a little -- in fact more than a little -- apprehensive. He had to smile.  
  
"Even if you were not Suzaku-shichi-sei, I wouldn't have you beheaded for bringing me here..." After a moment, he added, "probably," under his breath, and was rewarded by the merest whisper of laughter from Nuriko. "So, perhaps you would care to rehearse for me the arguments by which you persuaded Chichiri-sei, of all people, to bring me to the most... hmmm, exclusive... brothel in the capital?"  
  
She shrugged slightly. "You have met some of the healers here, Heika. You have heard Butterfly's story, and doubtless guessed that Hummingbird is the Pearl Dove in that story -- Butterfly's teacher. I... If I may rise..."  
  
"Nuriko." Her unadorned name lay between them like a gift, and she raised startled eyes to his. "For this time, please let me be just 'Lord Lovely' and you may be who you please. The emperor," he observed with a small grimace, "appears to be out of service for a time, in any case."  
  
She rose then, but instead of pacing the paths of the garden as he expected, she came to kneel in front of him, staring at his knees, which she could have clasped if she had been any closer. "I would not have deceived you, but... if I had told you, you wouldn't have come."  
  
"That much I will admit," he observed drily.  
  
"Hummingbird said earlier that you were making progress... I thought so, too, but she is far more perceptive than I, so I was glad to hear her confirm my opinion." She raised her eyes for just a moment. "These people heal hearts and souls, as Mitsukake heals bodies. As he manifests the healing power of Suzaku-shin, they manifest a similar power, though I don't know who they serve, or if they even name that power. I knew that this healing was what you required, and even Chichiri-sei had to agree after he had conferred with Hummingbird."  
  
"And what made you fit to judge what I needed?"  
  
She dared another flashing glance before dropping her eyes. "Perhaps... I had better finish the story of Butterfly -- I mean, the story of how I met her," she suggested softly.  
  
He sighed and leaned back against the bench. "You know," he said in a resigned tone seemingly addressed to the parasol above them, "you do have the most circuitous way of conveying information. I will have to make sure no one else in my court takes up the practice, or I'd get even less done than I do presently." He looked back to her face, but she averted her eyes.  
  
Taking his barbed response for assent, she settled back on her heels, taking a moment to arrange her skirts before speaking.  
  
"As I told you... Utsukushisa-sama... Butterfly came to me when I was at the point of despair. Consider, if you will. I had lived secretly as a woman for five years, in the face of my parents' constant disapproval. After being forced to live as a boy for a time, I had settled into a comfortable life as a seamstress in the capital. Then that existance had been shaken and destroyed, to be replaced by an impossible dream that impossibly came true when I managed to enter your harem and be accepted there. And then, after so much struggle and so much apparent success, I felt that my true self had betrayed me when I acted toward one of the Lady Administrators as a man to a woman. It was too much. I don't know what I might have done, but... Butterfly came."  
  
"She healed you," he offered quietly.  
  
"She healed my spirit, yes, before it could be broken utterly. But more than that, she taught me. You see, the feelings I had aroused in the Lady Administrator, those did not arise simply from the touch of flesh against flesh. I have a small talent for such matters -- if I touch someone, I can inflame or soothe them, whichever is needed to help put them back into balance."  
  
"So when Hummingbird said that you and Robin..."  
  
"Desu." Her eyes sought his then, and he let her hold his gaze. "I am nowhere near as capable as Butterfly, or Hummingbird in her day. But Butterfly used to say that I made a great difference, by feeling and mending the small hurts that escaped her notice, before they became great enough for her to attend to."  
  
"Is harem life so painful then?"  
  
"No!" He was startled by her vehemence and, reacting to his surprise, she dropped her eyes once more. "No," she continued more quietly, "but... consider. In the harem are forty women who all want the same thing, and none of them has any idea if she will ever attain that one prize. They have very little company except each other, and conditions are quite crowded. If two women argue, there is no way for them to separate for a time to allow their feelings to settle. That is why Butterfly was invited into the harem in the first place.  
  
"You may not know that in the months just before your mother died, two women of the harem nearly killed themselves, Utsukushisa-sama. One was probably melancholic before she was allowed to enter, but the other... In the other case, I am told that one lady of the harem did her best to drive a second lady to despair."  
  
"That would have been murder," he whispered, horrified.  
  
She shrugged then, glancing briefly into his face. "Perhaps. It would depend on the emperor's will in the matter. Or, in this case, your mother's will.  
  
"As it happened... well, the good thing about having no privacy is that neither young lady managed to do herself great damage, though the second girl would probably have succeeded in her intent if one of the maids had not been so quick to restrain her. I suspect that your mother was never told any of this..."  
  
"She would have killed the instigator if she had known." His throat felt almost too tight to let words escape. "And thus doubled the murder."  
  
Nuriko bowed slightly, accepting his judgement of his mother's character. "Shortly afterwards, as I said, your mother died, and Crystal Sparrow was appointed as a lady administrator of the harem. One of the first things she managed to do was to persuade the other lady administrators that the harem needed a heart healer working inside. I have no idea if they discussed the idea with the men in charge; they may simply have decided to create a plausible story and forged documents for the heart healer once she agreed to serve. After all, they did not plan to offer her to you as a potential Empress. Crystal Sparrow knew Hummingbird well, for Hummingbird had helped her to heal from her experiences in Kutou. Hummingbird suggested Butterfly, and Butterfly accepted the position."  
  
Silence stretched then, as Hotohori considered her words. He could simply not welcome into his harem -- he let himself admit it -- a lowborn woman of, well not dubious morality exactly, but... After a moment, he sighed in frustration. "I suppose I had better not change the arrangement, though I can't really like the situation. Well, I have had to accept a great many situations I do not like, for the good of the realm. In this case... I owe Butterfly a great debt, I think, not least for keeping your soul in one piece until I could meet you." He reached out and lifted her face so that their eyes met. "I have never had a truer friend, Nuriko."  
  
She reached up to cover his hand that touched her face with her own hand, and for one pulsing moment he felt her love and need, tempered with a hopeless longing, swirling through him. Then she released him and rose gracefully to her feet, turning away from him. "Gomen, ne? I... didn't mean to do that."  
  
He made no immediate answer, because he couldn't find words. Perhaps she interpreted his silence as rejection, for she turned partly toward him without meeting his eyes. "I think I will take a walk in the outdoor gardens before supper," she observed in a matter-of-fact tone. "I'll send Robin to sit with you, ne?" And without waiting for an answer, she walked gracefully away from him and through the door into the main building, every inch a lady of his court.  
  
Hotohori gave in to his fatigue for a moment and sagged on the bench. He reflected that this was turning into the least restful recuperation he had heard of. Hearing footsteps, he looked up to see that Robin was running full-out toward him. The young man pulled himself to a stop -- barely -- within a finger-breadth of Hotohori's feet.  
  
"I didn't want you to go off on one of your spirit walks without me," he explained. Hotohori smiled, reflecting that Nuriko would never have displayed such unseemly haste. Perhaps Chichiri had taken the young man aside for a small lecture on duties -- or no, it was more likely that Hummingbird had. Robin bent down and adjusted the pillows on the bench so that Hotohori could partially recline, then eased the emperor.into a more comfortable position. "Better?" he inquired.  
  
Hotohori smiled, partly from sheer pleasure at watching the other man move about. "Much," he agreed. "I'm a little tired, that's all." In a hopeful tone, he added, "Hummingbird said you could ease this fatigue..." The smile Robin turned on him then was both impish and suggestive, and Hotohori found it difficult to breathe until he dropped his eyes. "You mean... you would..."  
  
"It's the way we work," the young man replied sympathetically, but with an underlying hint of amusement. "It wouldn't be as bad as you think, I assure you." After a moment, he added puckishly, "it would be much worse!"  
  
Hotohori had to chuckle then. He rather enjoyed the boy's lack of respect. After a moment, he corrected his own thought. Robin respected him as a person, Hotohori decided -- it was the usual stiffness before an emperor that was missing. He reached out to touch the boy's hand then. "Thank you," he murmured.  
  
Robin smiled and sat on the floor in a single graceful motion, putting his head just a bit below Hotohori's as the emperor relaxed on the bench. "What's it like," the young man asked, when the silence had stretched for a moment.  
  
"Hmm? Oh, you mean... my job. Well, mostly it's a lot of talking and listening. I hold court two or three times a day, usually, and there may be fifty parties who need my decisions during those hours. To be honest, those are the easiest times of my day, because I generally know what is going to happen and have already decided how to respond. Besides Court, I usually have one or two council sessions with various groups advisors -- those can be difficult, depending on what decisions need to be made. And most of the rest of my day I spend listening to individuals, or small delegations, in private audiences. My staff keeps those to a minimum and tries to arrange things so that the audiences go smoothly, but... if something is going to ruin my day, it's usually an audience that goes badly." When Robin asked nothing further, Hotohori hazarded his own question. "What is your life like?"  
  
Robin's smile was knowing and amused. "Oh, just unending glamor and pleasure, of course." His smile faded. "Seriously, though, I'm lucky. Most of the people we get here are like you -- fine men who need a little pampering, a little love, to rebalance them when they have spent too much of themselves. The others... well, I do not deal with the tragic cases, thank all the gods. I think it would destroy me."  
  
"Do you get many men as badly hurt as the soldier in Nuriko-sei's story, then?"  
  
"That bad and worse, yes... but fortunately not many. Narcissus weeps sometimes..." Robin searched Hotohori's face with serious eyes, and seemed relieved to find no distaste. "That's why we are so good together, you see. Narcissus is one the great healers, like Obaasan, or your Butterfly. But, his own balance is precarious sometimes. I can heal that much. I can keep him whole and so participate in the great healing, even though it would tear me apart to do it myself... if I could accomplish it at all, which I couldn't. I'm not made for such healing, you see."  
  
"Do you wish to be like him, then, or like Hummingbird?"  
  
"Of course." Robin's face was perfectly open as he regarded Hotohori. "Everyone wishes to do more than they can do, don't they? Isn't there something even you wish to do, that you cannot?"  
  
Hotohori sighed. "I'd give anything to be able to go into Hokkan with Miaka and the other shichi-sei," he admitted. "It feels cowardly, somehow, to sit in the protection of the palace while the rest of them go into danger..."  
  
"Exactly!" Robin agreed. After a moment's thought, he added, "That's probably why it's so tiring when you deal with all those people every day."  
  
"What?" Hotohori had no idea how Robin had turned that conversational corner.  
  
"Well, I suppose most of them want to do something important... something like you do." He smiled and regarded Hotohori sidelong for a moment. "After all, you'll be written up in the history books and people will read about you long after the rest of us have become forgotten ancestors, ne?  
  
"So, wanting to be like you, they try to attract your notice. The small souls just want to snatch some small part of you to keep in their memory. The best of them, though... they want to give you something that will help you do your own work better. That way, they become part of your work, and they are there, too, in the history books, even if no one will ever notice them..." Robin shrugged. "But either way, what they want of you is to make them better than they are. I imagine it must feel as if you are constantly having to tug everyone you meet up, just a tiny bit, and the effort has to add up, day after day. So... I thought it would be tiring."  
  
Hotohori found himself intrigued by the boy's insight, and he contemplated it silently for some minutes. "There's truth in that, you know. I find myself retreating from them, making myself distant, using ceremony as a shield." After another moment, he sighed. "I wish it were not so. It feels wrong, for me to run away from the people I am supposed to be caring for..."  
  
Robin cocked his head and gave the emperor a wry smile. "Sometimes, Utsukushisa-sama, it is more tiring to resist doing something than just to do it."  
  
Hotohori frowned then, trying to work out the boy's meaning. After a moment, he tried to sort out his thoughts by speaking them aloud. "It would follow, then, that I can choose... to resist all that tugging, or to lift those people willingly, even if just a tiny bit, when I sense their wish to be lifted. A little... service to the realm, in a strange way," he observed at length.  
  
Robin laughed then. "Not so little, Utsukushisa-sama. They love you, you know. If they feel your love in return, even a small amount from someone like you... You would change lives, Utsukushi-sama, with no more effort than you expend now in fending them off."  
  
Hotohori sighed then. "I don't know if I'm strong enough to keep at it," he confessed.  
  
Robin took Hotohori's hand then, and the emperor felt a wave of support and confidence and, for lack of a better word, hero-worship, through the contact. "You needn't be perfect, Utsukushisa-sama. You needn't take on more than you feel able or willing to do. I only offer you a new way to look at things, after all, not a commandment from the gods!"  
  
Hotohori gently reclaimed his hand, then rested it on the boy's extraordinarily silken hair for a moment. "You're awfully young to be so wise," he observed after another silent time.  
  
The boy laughed softly. "I'm as old as you are, Utsukushisa-sama. I was born in the same month, and my mother thought herself fortunate that her son was the age-mate of an emperor."  
  
"Surely she couldn't have known at the time of my birth that I would be emperor. No one knew it until my father's death."  
  
"No, she figured it out later, when your birth day became a holiday. She was very proud then... though she died soon afterward."  
  
Hotohori found himself stroking the boy's -- the man's surely -- hair. Something about the motion was incredibly soothing, and Robin didn't seem to mind. "What happened? If... you want to talk about it."  
  
"She was killed. A client..." The quiet voice was unsteady, and a hand crept up to cover Hotohori's. "It happens, sometimes. The man was crazed with grief, and she misjudged his state of mind. He killed her and himself, and... I found them."  
  
Hotohori began to stroke Robin's shoulders, wishing that he had the talent to soothe the pain he could hear in the young man's voice.  
  
"I tried to run away, then, Utsukushisa-sama. Not only from the place where I was born, but from... this life. From healing. From touching at all. Only... I was a beautiful young man, with no schooling and no skills other than touching and healing. I wound up in... a brothel. Not like this, I mean. A sodier's brothel. Oh, not for long -- I escaped as soon as they relaxed their guard on me for an instant." Robin seemed calm now, and Hotohori pulled the boy's shoulders back to rest against the padded bench.  
  
"What happened then?" he asked when Robin remained silent.  
  
"I ran into Narcissus," Robin replied, and Hotohori had a feeling that there were unspoken chapters behind those few words. "He brought me here... With Hummingbird's help, he healed and taught me, and we have been together since." The young man's voice had gone a little dreamy, and Hotohori had to smile. As if he could feel the smile -- and perhaps he could -- Robin chuckled. "Young love, ne? The oldest story in the world, and surely the least interesting!"  
  
Robin sprang up then and, taking Hotohori's hands, he deftly helped the emperor sit up. In one lithe motion, he leaned down and planted a gentle kiss on Hotohori's lips. "That's for being such a good listener," he explained with a grin. "Now, up with you, and let's get you ready for dinner -- I have something that would look scrumptious on you..."  
  
With a gentle tug, he raised Hotohori to his feet, and the two turned to leave the garden. In front of them stood Nuriko, a look of horrified embarrassment on her face. Before either man could reach out to her, she turned and fled.  
  
Hotohori must have looked stricken, for Robin took a firmer grip on his arm and began to lead him gently out of the garden. "Don't worry, na. I'll speak to Otome-sama, my lord. I had meant to anyway... Besides, as good as you are going to look tonight, he'll be running back to you before dinner is served. Come on, now!"  
  
Hotohori doubted Nuriko would be swayed that easily, but he accepted Robin's support, and went along willingly enough. Considering the earlier conversation he'd had with Robin and Narcissus about fashion, he thought it would be worthwhile to see Robin's wardrobe.  
  
Dinner turned out to be a quiet affair. Only Hotohori, Nuriko and Robin dined with Hummingbird in a small and graciously appointed dining room. When Hotohori inquired about the rest of the "children", Hummingbird smiled enigmatically. "They will find things to occupy themselves, I'm sure. I think you have chosen your healers, Utsukushisa-sama. There is no need to clutter up your short time here with the rest of the family, ne?"  
  
Hotohori sighed theatrically. "They are certainly pleasant to look at, though," he observed mournfully, and was rewarded by a full laugh from Hummingbird and Robin both. Even Nuriko smiled, though she looked rather troubled still.  
  
"We could have them pose in the gardens for Utsukushisa-sama's pleasure, perhaps," Robin offered with a sly grin. "Though it's a bit early in the year for them to pose nude..." Hummingbird gave a tiny shake of her head, and the boy subsided.  
  
"Eat, please," she instructed them all. "I will need to rest soon, and there is something I must say.  
  
"Utsukushisa-sama, Otome-sama, this is no part of the healing you have asked of us, but I must at least give you warning. I am afraid that you have fallen into a pattern of interaction that will cause both of you great pain. Worse, it creates a weakness in both of you that a skilled enemy could exploit to harm you.  
  
"Utsukushisa-sama, you see your friend as a woman, but it is not so. And Otome-sama, you have allowed your image of yourself to be formed by others, especially by Utsukushisa-sama."  
  
Nuriko was rising angrily, but Robin reached out and touched her arm. She stared balefully at him for a moment, then sat again.  
  
"Otome-sama, you wish to be a woman and fear to be a man. Both the wish and the fear are born of misunderstanding. You can never be wholly a woman or wholly a man. Instead, you are meant to be balanced between the two possibilities, able to use the strengths of either side as you choose. If you find that balance, you will be far more effective at the tasks you have undertaken. If you cling to either side of your nature, you create a constant struggle within yourself that robs you of your true strength. Until now I think you have been driven, by circumstances and the will of the god you serve, to find Utsukushisa-sama, and to that end you have been led to desire him and to create yourself in his image of you. It is time to break that pattern now, before your enemies can use it against you.  
  
"Utsukushisa-sama, you need to remember at all times that you are a magnet for the love of those around you. It is your nature to attract people who will be loyal to your interests and who will do their best to please you. It makes you a formidable ruler, but you must be very careful not to exploit this trait in personal matters. To your credit, I believe you would not willingly exploit or enslave those who love you, but you cannot guard against such actions if you do not understand the problem. It is exactly this trait that makes you so dangerous to Otome-sama: your friend's balance is not settled, and the attraction you exert further perturbs that balance."  
  
Hotohori felt stricken by her words; he closed his eyes, giving himself a moment to take in her meaning. Finally, he returned her gaze to ask, "What should we do, then?"  
  
But Hummingbird was sitting very still, with a look of intense inward concentration on her face. Robin made a small sound of distress and rushed to her side. He was just in time to stop her from toppling off the chair, but Hummingbird slumped bonelessly and seemed about to slip away from him. Nuriko reached them then, easily lifting the old woman's slight weight and cradling her in strong arms. "Tell me where to take her," she suggested practically.  
  
Robin turned a strained, white face to her, then visibly collected his wits. "I'll show you the room we've been using -- everyone can come to her there without crowding. Hold on..."  
  
Robin went to Hotohori and tugged gently at his hand. "Come with us, Utsukushisa-sama -- your smiling friend told us not to leave you alone, you know." Hotohori wanted to protest the delay in caring for Hummingbird, but Robin's eyes pleaded with him to simply do as he was asked. Cursing the weakness that made him so slow, Hotohori struggled to his feet and walked beside Robin, followed by Nuriko with Hummingbird. 


	9. Konan Nights, ch 9

The room Robin led them to was quite large, and held a bed and several cots. Nuriko laid Hummingbird on the bed and began to loosen her clothing. Robin left Hotohori sitting in a comfortable chair, and ran out to fetch the rest of Hummingbird's "children".  
  
"Can you tell what happened to her, Nuriko?"  
  
Nuriko shook her head without looking toward him. "It looked like a brainstorm to me, but I'm no expert. As soon as they come back, I'll summon Chichiri and see if he can bring Mitsukake in."  
  
"Could it have been a magical attack?"  
  
Nuriko shrugged. "I didn't see anything, but ... maybe I wouldn't. Chichiri will know."  
  
Both of them fell silent. Hotohori regretted the constraint that had arisen between them, but he had no idea how to bridge the new distance.  
  
Within a few minutes, Hummingbird's young women healers began trickling in. Oddly -- for Hotohori's image of them was rather abandoned -- they were wearing formal gowns and their hair had been put up soberly. A few moments later, Narcissus arrived, with Robin following. Robin wore the lovely robes he had put on for dinner, and Narcissus also was formally dressed. When Narcissus came in, Nuriko stood to give him her place at Hummingbird's side, then took Robin aside for a moment. Hotohori saw the young man nod once, and touch Nuriko's cheek as if in thanks. Then he walked over to Hotohori.  
  
"Otome-sama will bring Egao-sama. It is a good idea to check if this is the result of some kind of magical attack. But... we have known for a year or more that Hummingbird would leave us soon. It has not been an easy time for her. She has been in pain for part of nearly every day, often beyond what we could take from her. If it turns out that there was no magic involved, we will not require a healer." The young man looked down, and seemed to be trying to decide something. At length, he looked up and hesitantly said, "I... would ask a favor from you, Utsukushisa-sama."  
  
"If I can grant it, it is yours."  
  
"I would ask you to allow us to displace you from the room you are occupying, so that we can move Hummingbird there."  
  
Hotohori realized at once that the room must be hers -- he ought to have known when he saw that wall scroll, he thought.  
  
"Of course, Robin. If I had realized..."  
  
"Please, Utsukushisa-sama. She is one of those who wanted to give you what she could; so that you could do what she could not. She was honored that you accepted and appreciated her gift. You must have no regret for doing so." Robin took a moment to offer Hotohori a comforting touch, and then walked to stand beside Narcissus.  
  
In due course, Chichiri arrived, entering in orthodox fashion from the door to the hallway. He walked quietly to stand next to Robin, waiting for the younger man to acknowledge him. Robin turned to him at once, and they conferred in voices too quiet for Hotohori to hear. Then Chichiri walked to Nuriko and spoke quietly. Nuriko nodded, and came to Hotohori.  
  
"Hotohori-sama, Chichiri-sei says he senses no magic. I'll show him the dining room as well, just in case. But perhaps it would be best if we leave them to their good-byes. We can go to my room for the time being..."  
  
When Hotohori nodded, Nuriko helped him up and lent Hotohori her -- his? -- arm for the walk. Settling him comfortably, Nuriko went off with Chichiri. Hotohori found himself looking around, not sure what he was looking for but wanting some bridge back to his friend. She was not obsessively neat, he saw -- a few cosmetics sat open on the dressing table, and a rejected gown lay on the bed. Impossible not to think of her as a woman, in these surroundings. Hotohori sighed. Trying to change his image of Nuriko felt oddly like losing her altogether, he found.  
  
Nuriko and Chichiri returned then. Chichiri was shaking his head. "No sign of anything unnatural," he informed them both. "I think it is simply her time, Hotohori-sei, Nuriko-sei. From what I could sense, she is very near death, but she wishes one thing." The priest shrugged. "I don't know what, but I think her loved ones here know what she requires."  
  
"She wants to see that wall scroll a final time," Hotohori guessed.  
  
Chichiri considered this a moment, and nodded. "That may be her wish." The priest seemed lost in thought for a moment -- Hotohori wondered if he was reviewing his own memories of that extraordinary painting. Then Chichiri roused himself and fixed the emperor with a probing glance. "Good," he pronounced. "Much improved. If no setbacks occur, you may well find the key to your healing tonight. I suggest, Hotohori-sei, that you attend to your dreams."  
  
"Did you figure out a way to stop that strange dreaming?" Nuriko asked. She sounded nearly as tired as Hotohori felt.  
  
"Perhaps, but it isn't certain. If you would like me to sit with Hotohori-sei to guard his sleep..."  
  
"No, thank you. I won't be able to sleep for a long while, I expect. I have been given a great deal to think about." The bleakness of Nuriko's tone tore at Hotohori's heart, but he found he was too tired to do more than listen passively.  
  
"Nuriko-sei, if..."  
  
"It's all right. I'm not ready to talk about anything yet, Chichiri-kun. I am... very confused." Nuriko took a deep breath then, and let it out slowly. "I think perhaps Hotohori-sei had best get into bed. Would you..."  
  
"Of course, I'll take care of it. Perhaps you should see if you can find tea, or a maid to bring some."  
  
That was the last thing Hotohori heard for some time. He sank softly into black silence.  
  
Hotohori found himself on a hill overlooking a plain. In other years, the plain might have been glorious with wildflowers blooming among spring-green grasses. Now it was a barren, trampled killing field where two armies were engaged in fierce battle.  
  
Hotohori felt panic seize him as he realized he must be dreaming, and he began to struggle up from the dream, wondering if what he saw was truly happening, somewhere in his realm. A familiar voice whispering in his mind made him cease his struggles for a moment. "Be easy, Hotohori-sei," the voice assured him. "This is only ordinary dreaming. Watch and learn." Hotohori could not identify the voice he heard, but he felt sure he could trust the speaker. That trust allowed him to master his fears and allow the dream to continue.  
  
Military matters had been part of his childhood training, of course. He felt he should be able to read the dispositions of the armies from this commanding viewpoint, but... In a basically peaceful realm, Hotohori had had little chance to oversee real battle. He found that the view below him was rather different from counters on a sandtable, and he was not even sure which side was his.  
  
"You will not prevail, you know." a voice remarked from beside and slightly behind him. Hotohori whirled, expecting to see Nakago, or perhaps the emperor of Kutou. The man who had spoken was neither, yet he seemed oddly familiar. He reminded Hotohori of -- it came to him after a moment -- himself.  
  
Seeing the resemblance at last, Hotohori began to trace it out. His father's forehead and eyes, like his own. His father's chin, too, which Hotohori had not inherited, thank the gods. But the other man's nose was different from either Hotohori's or his father's, and his build was stocky and strong, unlike Hotohori's lithe slenderness or his father's whipcord muscles. Even seeing the differences, Hotohori was struck again by the linkeness he bore to this unknown man.  
  
"Who are you?" he asked.  
  
"What, you don't recognize me after all these years?" The voice, too, had something of Hotohori's father in it. And it held something else Hotohori remembered -- a sneering meanness that took Hotohori back to childhood games in the palace.  
  
The dream shifted then, and Hotohori was crouching -- crouching? -- in the palace, but everything looked subtly different. After a moment, he realized that he was seeing it through his own eyes as a young child, and that he was hiding under a gazebo in one of the large pleasure gardens. He smiled then, for he remembered that hiding place. As far as he knew, it had been his alone -- a crack in the building's foundations just large enough for him to squeeze through was hidden by shrubbery and the flowering vines that adorned the gazebo and created screens of scented foliage that made the structure a perfect place for lovers to snatch a kiss. He had found that aspect of the building more interesting a few years later, he recalled...  
  
Now, though, he found his adult mind riding in the body he had worn when he was perhaps six or seven. As he peeked out from his hiding place, two more boys ran into the garden. One looked about his own age, and the other about a year older. Seeing them, Hotohori's adult mind realized that anyone could see the stamp of the same father on all three boys. Apparently not even the vagaries of inheritance had dared defy the old emperor, Hotohori thought with a flash of grim humor.  
  
"He has to be here somewhere! Come on, I'm not letting him win again today!" It was the older boy who spoke, and with a shock of recognition Hotohori recognized the voice and the stocky build of the boy as those of the man he had confronted above the battlefield.  
  
The two boys searched every inch of the garden; they even found the crack in the gazebo's foundation, but since both were too big to fit inside, they apparently discarded it as a hiding place without looking closely. Finally, in frustration, the larger boy called out the ritual words conceding the game.  
  
That was when Hotohori realized he -- or rather the young boy he had once been -- had outsmarted himself. If he came out, in full sight of his brothers and rivals, he would spoil this hiding place forever. That he was unwilling to do, and he decided to wait for them to leave the garden before coming out.  
  
Hotohori, where he rode behind the small boy's eyes, remembered that day. Gochurien and Riupen, his brothers, had been sure he was hiding in this garden, and had decided to have the small revenge of finding his hiding place at all costs. After a long afternoon of stalemate, the others had played their trump card -- they had reported Prince Sahitei missing. In the search that ensued, Hotohori had managed to slip out of his hiding place unnoticed and return his mother's quarters, but it had cost him a beating from his father. Well, he supposed he had deserved it, thinking back on how many people's valuable time he had wasted that day...  
  
The dream shifted again, and now he found himself back in his own body but... The first thing he managed to focus on was his clothing -- or lack of it. He wore nothing but a loincloth and it was unbearably filthy. As he stared in horror at the cloth, a louse scuttled out. He reached down to crush it with a hand that was not only dirty, but bruised and abraded. The arm above it was so thin he imagined the sun would shine through it -- if any sun had ever entered this dark, fetid place. A glance to his right confirmed what he feared -- his right wrist and ankle were shackled to a stone wall.  
  
When he looked up to discover the rest of his surroundings, he saw that Gochurien was again standing almost within reach. "This is what will become of you, when you lose your realm to Kutou... brother." The last word was so filled with hatred that Hotohori flinched.  
  
Hotohori, by habit and training, took a moment to calm himself and collect his thoughts. "I did not order your death, Gochurien," he explained quietly. "I didn't even know what became of you until years afterward." The stocky man said nothing, offered no response at all beyond a small, mocking smile. "I was only a child myself, Gochurien. I wasn't consulted on ... on anything, really, until years after your death -- all of your deaths." When the other man still remained silent, Hotohori bowed his head. "If it is of any use to you, I am sorry. I regret your deaths. I would like to have had brothers..."  
  
"Regret. How touching. But you still took the throne, of course, and continued living in the palace amid all the lackeys. I remember how they treated our father -- as if he were a god instead of just a brutal soldier."  
  
Hotohori felt a momentary urge to defend his father, who had left Konan more secure than when he took the throne, but... it wasn't the time for such things.  
  
"Yes," he admitted, "I took the throne. I didn't know at the time that the rest of you had been killed. But... if I had to make the decision again, based on mature knowledge and judgement... I would still have taken it." Hotohori looked up then, and found that he could effortlessly hold the other man's gaze. "There was no one else, Gochurien. What would you have, the realm in civil war in the name of revenge?"  
  
"Very noble. You only did it for the realm, of course. Well, there will be worse than civil war now. There will be conquest, and by a harder master than our father ever was, *Emperor* Sahitei. Or should I say Hotohori -- though, if you could look, you would see that your little red brand is missing."  
  
Hotohori gasped and put his left hand to the "star" shirushi on his neck, but... he had never been able to feel it, not with his fingers. Closing his eyes, he searched for the feeling he had learned to sense -- a sort of red warmth, if he had to name it. The feeling that he associated with Suzaku-shin's presence was simply gone. He looked up to his brother, who finally laughed.  
  
"Despair at last. It is what I returned to this world to see... *brother.*"  
  
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" The voice was Nuriko's, and she was shaking Hotohori's shoulders a bit less gently than she may have intended. "Really, Chichiri-kun. This is too much to ask of him."  
  
"It is not *my* dream he was dreaming, na no da. But... you have woken him, no da, so you may as well get him some tea."  
  
Hotohori took Nuriko's hands and pushed her gently away. "I'm awake, I'm getting up, and tea sounds good. What... of Hummingbird?"  
  
Nuriko sighed. "We haven't heard anything. I'm sure Robin would come, if..."  
  
"Her flame is very low, na no da, but it still burns," Chichiri offered. "She has woken twice in the night, and taken comfort from those who love her. I think she will not wake again, no da."  
  
After a moment of silence, Hotohori rose, thankful that someone had removed Robin's lovely gown and replaced it with a soft bedgown. He made his way to a small table where a teapot steamed. "Have the maids been in and out all night?" he asked.  
  
Nuriko snorted, a surprisingly unladylike sound. "They were in just after we settled in for the night.The tea hasn't gotten cold or run out since then. *He's* being mysterious."  
  
Hotohori studied Chichiri, but the masked face gave away nothing. "It is not a time for this household to concern themselves too much with simple matters such as tea service, no da" was all the monk said. Hotohori kept a smile from his lips by sheer willpower, and poured himself tea.  
  
Seating himself on the chair across from Nuriko's -- Chichiri was perched on the dressing table, and had not moved since Hotohori awoke -- the emperor sipped his tea and let it warm some of the chill the dream had left behind. He began looking for words to talk about his dream, but even thinking about it made him feel tired and defeated. He was secretly relieved for a moment when Chichiri leapt to the floor and hurried to open the door before an exhausted-looking Robin had to make an effort to ask admittance.  
  
Nuriko rose immediately and Chichiri seated Robin in Nuriko's chair while Nuriko brought the young man tea. Hotohori had the impression that something had changed -- the way Nuriko and Chichiri worked as a team seemed new, though he couldn't think exactly what was different.  
  
Robin sipped his tea gratefully and then put the cup aside. "Hummingbird has gone to seek the Gates of Peace," he announced simply. In the moment of silent acknowledgement that followed that statement, Nuriko sank gracefully to a cushoin she had dropped between Robin's chair and Hotohori's.  
  
"She will welcome a time of peace, I think," Hotohori observed quietly.  
  
As if she could read his unvoiced thoughts, Nuriko murmured, "We would all welcome peace."  
  
Having resumed his perch, Chichiri observed, "She will not be content to rest very long, I suspect."  
  
Robin laughed then, a wholly joyous sound in such a gloomy gathering. "You are probably right, Egao-sama. She will return soon, I think. She never had any talent for resting."  
  
Robin stood then, and walked the few steps to Hotohori's chair. Kneeling, he took the emperor's hands in his and his eyes took on a look of inward concentration. After a moment, he frowned. "Utsukushisa-sama, you are not recovering from your earlier fatigue as well as I would expect. Have you..."  
  
Chichiri was beside Hotohori before the young man had finished his thought. His hand rested on Robin's for a moment before he snatched it back and muttered, "Kusa! Heika, you are going back to the palace right now. Nuriko!"  
  
"Too late," a quiet, confident voice observed. At the same moment, Robin clutched at his throat. He seemed to be trying to take a breath, but it was clear from the panic in his eyes that he was not succeeding. Nuriko snatched the kasa from Chichiri and pushed Robin through it, then tried to pick up Hotohori for the same purpose. But Hotohori seemed to have been immobilized -- not even Nuriko could shift him.  
  
"I thank you, Nuriko-sei, for removing the whore-boy. He held the keys to the wards on the building you are sitting in. It will be much easier to arrange your deaths now."  
  
"General Nakago." Hotohori had recognized the voice as soon as he heard it.  
  
Chichiri had moved to stand behind Hotohori, with his hands on both the emperor's shoulders. Hotohori could feel the battle of powers taking place within him. Nuriko stood looking on helplessly.  
  
From elsewhere in the building, they heard screams and sounds of falling objects and an ominous crackling sound, as of flames. Nuriko turned away from Hotohori and ran from the room. "I'll bring everyone else," she shouted, and sprinted off.  
  
"I wasted a great deal of the night trying to locate you in the palace, Konan no Koutei. If your present location is an attempt at hiding you, I compliment whoever thought of it. I have studied you for years, becausee you were the only one of the Suzaku-shichi-sei I could discover until recently. I would have placed a bet at long odds that you would never sully yourself with an establishment like the Crimson Moon."  
  
Keep him talking, Hotohori thought. Every moment he talks is a moment for Nuriko and Chichiri to keep working!  
  
"People are full of surprises, General. I wouldn't have expected you to disobey an order from your emperor. If I recall correctly, you did not receive your emperor's permission to kill me."  
  
"A tragic accident while the emperor of Konan was amusing himself in the stews of the capital? I think Kutou no Koutei will have no reason to blame me for such an occurance. And since all three of you are enemies of the power I serve, I have no excuses to make in that quarter."  
  
Nuriko ran in then, followed by the rest of Hummingbird's household. Picking up one of the maids, Nuriko stood her on the kasa, where she sank quickly from view. Nuriko began shooing the remaining young people into the kasa, picking up anyone who was reluctant and tossing them through.   
  
Hotohori racked his brain for something else to say -- anything to keep Nakago talking. "You may be our enemies, General, but we are not necessarily yours. All we wish is the people of Konan-koku to live at peace within secure borders."  
  
Hotohori saw that the last of the healers and maids had disappeared from the room now. Nuriko moved to stand directly in front of Hotohori, taking both his hands. Closing her eyes, she began to breathe rhythmically.  
  
"What you want is of no concern to me. Your priest is good, but I think not good enough. I will..."  
  
Whether it was the addition of Nuriko's strength, or whether Chichiri had finally found the key to Nakago's spell, Hotohori found himself suddenly free to move. He began to stand, but Nuriko didn't wait. Hotohori felt himself flying, and a moment later he was back in the palace. Nuriko leapt through a moment later, and both of them stood watching, waiting for Chichiri.  
  
It seemed an eternity before he appeared, a little the worse for wear. There were scorch marks on his clothing and his mask, his eyes were streaming and he was coughing. Nuriko helped him to a bench, and Chin appeared immediately with a cup of water.  
  
Hotohori took a moment to look around and consider what to do next. He was in his own bedchambers, along with Nuriko, Chichiri and about ten young people who would not quite fit in to court life. He took a moment to thank the gods that they were all dressed rather soberly, then remembered the reason and sighed. Well, what the court would think could be tomorrow's problem.  
  
"Chin," he said softly, bringing the man to his side. The older man seemed relieved to have his usual chain of command re-established, Hotohori noted with a purely internal smile. "Send for my physician for Chichiri-sei and Robin. Have rooms prepared -- in this wing, please -- for everyone else. This young man," Hotohori indicated Narcissus, "will let you know how many rooms are needed and who will be staying in each."  
  
Chichiri seemed to be recovering well enough. "Nuriko," Hotohori called quietly, and she came immediately to his side. "Put Robin in my bed if you would until the physician can see to him. Narcissus can sit with him as soon as he has conferred with Chin."  
  
"Heika!" Chin protested, as Nuriko moved to follow Hotohori's instructions. Hotohori shook his head slightly, and Chin subsided. The emperor sank onto a bench near the bed and watched everyone else scramble to follow his orders. Despite the charms of his recent... vacation, Hotohori decided there was something to be said for being able to command instant compliance. 


	10. Konan Nights, ch 10

Morning came a bit sooner than Hotohori would have liked. Robin was still in his bed, so he had had cots set up for himself and Narcissus (since Chin would have been scandalized if the two young men had shared a bed). Both of them were sleeping soundly, but Hotohori, now that he was back in the palace, found that he woke at his usual hour, and, though he could have used more sleep, it was pretty clear his body wasn't going to cooperate.  
  
He rose and went softly into his dressing room where Chin, of course, was waiting. Sometime Hotohori was going to have to find out why he never seemed unprepared to offer whatever the emperor needed, no matter the hour or circumstances. It seemed like a handy skill to have...  
  
Now the older man was regarding him with what Hotohori recognized as his mother-hen manner. "Heika," the older man addressed him softly, but with a strong note of disapproval, "surely you need your rest! Please, let me move these... people..."  
  
"Chin." To Hotohori's surprise, the older man stopped short. "First, these people are my guests. They *will* be treated as such. And second, you are correct. As soon as the physicians clear it, have Robin moved to the room prepared for him. Narcissus will doubtless follow."  
  
"Heika..." A look from the emperor quelled the new protest, doubtless centered on the sleeping arrangements Narcissus had requested.  
  
"As soon as possible, I want to meet with Lord Lo and my chief scribe in my private office here." With a small gesture, Hotohori made it clear that he meant the office in this wing, which made it a very private meeting indeed. "Have tea and a very light breakfast served. Once I've met with them, attend on me there -- I should have some idea how the rest of the day will go then."  
  
Chin looked as if he was about to question Hotohori's choice to schedule appointments today instead of rest, but surprisingly -- for the first time in Hotohori's experience -- Chin in mother-hen mode refrained from voicing his opinion. Instead, he stepped back dutifully and answered "Yes, Heika."  
  
As Hotohori submitted to the body servants who dressed him with practiced hands, he wondered what had happened to Chin in his absence, to make the man so unexpectedly... compliant.  
  
When he reached his office, Lord Lo and the scribe -- an older man who could run the palace single-handedly, and who had never, in Hotohori's experience, showed surprise at anything he saw or heard -- were waiting respectfully before his desk. Sitting, he motioned them to sit as well. "Lord Lo,  
Jimu-san. Please report."  
  
"Good," he observed when they had finished. "Very good. Lord Lo, I wish you to continue acting in my stead with the war ministers, as you have been doing."  
  
"But... Heika, now that you have returned..."  
  
"I will see you every morning at this hour and hear your report. If there is something that you absolutely cannot decide, or if one of my advisors has something to say that I absolutely must hear, I will deal with it at that time only."  
  
Turning away before Lo could offer further protest, Hotohori addressed the scribe. "There will be no open court today. And I want you to come up with a plan to reduce the number of open court sessions each day to one only, starting tomorrow."  
  
Jimu looked thoughtful. "May I ask why, Heika?"  
  
"I have concluded that there is a matter I must attend to personally that will require several hours of my time each day. It is past time that I gave the realm an empress."  
  
"Heika! We are at war! Surely..."  
  
"Lord Lo." Hotohori did not raise his voice, yet Lo closed his mouth abruptly. "As you say, we are at war. It has recently been pointed out to me ... well, let us say I have received some intelligence about our enemies' strategy. They believe that Konan-koku's government structure is strong enough to function in my absence, but that, if I am killed and known to be dead, there will be an internal struggle that may lead to civil war. Comments, gentlemen?"  
  
It looked as if Lord Lo was about to bluster again, but Hotohori fastened his attention on Jimu, who seemed to be calculating possibilities. After a moment, the scribe nodded slowly. "It is a reasonable strategy, I think."  
  
"So do I. The problem isn't lack of leadership, precisely. I think you -- the two of you, and the rest of my civil servants -- could keep everything running as smoothly as possible, even with the realm in a state of war, for quite some time. But if I am killed, leaving no obvious claimant for the throne, some men -- note, I do not say all -- will sense an opportunity for personal gain, and unity of purpose will fail. It seems to me that nothing -- not even my personal attention to the war effort -- can stand in the way of my preventing that outcome."  
  
"Surely your guard can protect..."  
  
"I remind you that Seiryuu-shichi-sei -- and their intent is the same as that of the Kutou Crown, at least in this regard -- have managed to penetrate our guard already and nearly kill, not only myself, but all of Suzaku-shichi-sei." Hotohori shrugged. "You had me taught strategy, Lord Lo. You know the folly of assuming your enemy cannot do what he plans.  
  
"Now, in order to proceed with the search for an empress, I will need a joint report from the two of you, evaluating my mother's reign." Wearily, he held a hand up to prevent a protest from Lord Lo. "Call it what you like, the fact is that she was empress in all but name for at least four years. I want to know everything she accomplished and failed to accomplish during that time, and I want an assessment, not of her character, precisely, but rather of how her character affected her successes and failures in governing the realm. I will have the report at tomorrow morning's meeting. Is that clear?"  
  
Both men nodded.  
  
"And right now, I want an opinion from both of you. I understand that, as you go over the records of my mother's... regency... you may have to enlarge on or alter what you tell me now, but... Please tell me whether any of my half-brothers, if they had lived, would have been suitable candidates for emperor, from the point of view of the imperial advisors at that time."  
  
Jimu's expression did not change, but for the first time, Lord Lo looked rather subdued and thoughtful.  
When he spoke, it was not to the point.  
  
"You've changed, Heika," he observed. "You remind me more of your father, this morning, than I ever expected you to."  
  
Hotohori felt a small pang of loss, wondering what had happened to the man he had been. But...  
  
"I cannot afford to fail," he confessed. "Konan-koku must not fall, particularly not during the reign of the current emperor of Kutou. Now, Lord Lo, please answer my question."  
  
Lo shrugged. "Three were babes, and one a boy of two. They would have been the last choices, based on age alone. In addition, however, two of the three mothers of those infants would have been complete disasters as regents. I suppose, if nothing else had offered, we'd have managed, but...  
  
"Of the older lads, Ruipen's mother was another unsuitable dowager, since she'd have bankrupted the realm for her personal pleasure long before her son came into his own majority. In effect, the only possible choices were you, or Gochurien. Your mother," the man's lips compressed in distaste for a moment, "managed to convince us that you were the better choice, partly on the strength of the evidence of Suzaku-shin's favor. Once she had our approval of your succession, she had your rivals smothered, all in one night. At least, we must assume so -- no one was anxious to look for evidence in the matter, as you will no doubt understand."  
  
No, Hitohori thought, he didn't understand. He felt a wave of hatred for his mother then, and for the men who had accepted her use of murder as a tool of statecraft. He hoped none of his feelings showed on his face, however, for he could not afford to lose the support of two of those men, who sat before him at this moment.  
  
"Jimu-san?" he prompted, when he was sure his voice was under control.  
  
"I agree substantially with Lord Lo, Heika. I would add one observation. Gochurien was the choice of a substantial minority of your father's advisors, on the grounds that Gochurien seemed, at the time, to be very much like your father. However, my own feeling is that there was one important difference between the two. Both of them... identified with the realm, in a way very different from yourself. I mean to say, each of them acted as if the realm was somehow a part of his person... But there was a difference. Your father consistently acted for the good of the realm, even at the cost of his own immediate happiness. Gochurien... might have reversed that priority."  
  
"Come on, Jimu! What can you judge of a boy of ten?"  
  
Jimu bowed in acceptance of Lord Lo's point, but it was clear that his opinion was not changed.  
  
"One final question. Is it possible any of my brothers are... still alive?"  
  
"No, Heika." Lo's voice was grim. "I saw the bodies. The children were all known to me in life, and there is no doubt that all of them died."  
  
"Thank you." Hotohori's voice was nearly a whisper. He wanted nothing more at that moment than a moment alone, though whether to weep or be sick, he had no idea. "If there is nothing else, I will..."  
  
"Heika," Lord Lo interrupted. "I did wish to speak to you about the exceedingly *odd* people who are rumored to..."  
  
"Squelch the rumors," the emperor ordered shortly. "That will be all, thank you."  
  
Having no choice, they bowed and withdrew. Hotohori closed his eyes and tried to control a fit of trembling. For a moment, he considered returning to his rooms and bathing but... he didn't think it would help. Like it or not, he had ascended to the throne over the bodies of his brothers -- not even rebellious brothers, but mere children. Even though he had not intended it, or even known about the slaughter at the time, he felt profoundly unclean.  
  
"Heika, are you well?" The voice was Chin's, of course. When the emperor didn't answer, the servant strode over and began checking the emperor's ki points. Hotohori was obscurely reassured by the human touch, a proof of sorts that he had not become wholly vile. Or... that the vileness didn't show.  
  
"I'm well enough, Chin," he forced himeself to reply. "How is Robin?"  
  
"He has been carried *out* of your room, Heika. The physicians say he will recover fully in a day or two, with rest."  
  
"That's good. I think. He looked close to death when... well. I would like to speak with Nuriko-sei and Chichiri-sei in my rooms, if you would be good enough to invite them... persuasively."  
  
"Of course. May I... suggest that you not delay returning to your rooms?"  
  
"If you mean that I had better not parade through the halls looking as I probably do now, I take your point. Let us by all means use the private exit."  
  
A few minutes later, Hotohori was sitting on a comfortable bench with tea and rice balls. He had considered removing the rather formal robe he had chosen to meet Lord Lo in, but the effort seemed impossible at the moment.  
  
He did not have long to wait until Chin admitted Nuriko and Chichiri, who seemed completely recovered from the previous night's attack. As soon as she saw him, Nuriko gave a small cry and rushed to his side. "Hotohori-sama, what has happened? You look..."  
  
"Ghastly, I expect. Please, sit, friends. I find there is some... unfinished business from my recent recuperation." He wound down then, unable to find energy or words to go on.  
  
"Chichiri-kun, can't you...?"  
  
The priest shook his head slowly. "Hotohori-sei, I dare not meddle. If we use Hummingbird's metaphor, you must untie this knot yourself."  
  
"But... look at him!"  
  
Hotohori sighed. "Stop, please, Nuriko. Chichiri-sei is right, as usual. Sit, please. I find that it is my turn to tell a story..."  
  
It took longer than he had imagined to relate the dream and convey the information he had received form his advisors. For this first time since long before he had become emperor, he found himself weeping in front of another human being. Nuriko had settled beside him on the bench as soon as the weeping began, and had taken his hands in hers in order to send him a constant stream of support, which, however, didn't seem to stop the weeping. Chichiri's gaze never left his, and he was grateful to see none of the disgust he felt for himself on Chichiri's face. That grave and wounded gaze anchored him, somehow, allowing him to continue when he wanted nothing more than to give up. When he finished, there was a long silence.  
  
"What you say explains something that had puzzled me," Chichiri observed finally. "Forgive me, Hotohori-sei, but it always seemed to me odd that the emporer of Konan was selected as one of Suzaku-shichi-sei. Look at the rest of us." His mouth twisted slightly. "We are all misfits of one sort of another. Protecting Suzaku-no-miko -- particularly this rather impulsive and foolishly brave girl -- is not the best way to assure a long life. It makes sense that we are all... expendable. Except for you. It has never made sense that Suzaku-shin would put you in this situation where you could not protect Miaka without endangering Konan-koku."  
  
"So, you're saying what?" Hotohori asked dully. Whatever Chichiri was saying, it didn't seem the most helpful observation he had heard recently.  
  
"I suspect that Suzaku-shin expected Gochurien to rule, leaving you, as one of the emperor's several younger brothers, free to go adventuring."  
  
Hotohori had to laugh briefly at the black humor of that. If Chichiri was right, the mark that ought to have shown him unfit to rule had in fact been a factor in selecting him over his brother.  
  
He gave himself a moment to think about what Gochurien's reign might have been like, compared to his own, or to what Nuriko had told him of the early reign of the emperor of Kutou. His brother, Hotohori thought, would probably have continued his father's policy of harassing the Kutou borders, trying to annex small bits of territory in a game of brinksmanship. Hotohori had repudiated that policy as soon as he had the power, since it seemed like a senseless waste of his subjects' lives for a pitifully small gain. If he had not, perhaps the armies of Kutou might be weaker now, and the stalemate that had continued for generations still in place. It was a bitter thought.  
  
"So," he managed to say at last, "given the hash my mother apparently made of things, what are we to do now?"  
  
"Surely it's a good thing that you will be selecting an empress," Nuriko hazarded. "I think -- I have thought nearly since the beginning -- that that was the action the gods wanted of you."  
  
Hotohori looked to Chichiri, who nodded. "I believe that too, Hotohori-sei. The difficulty is, that in order to make a proper selection, you need to be heart-whole. What is being asked of you is nothing less than to undo the tangled mess your mother made of the succession to the throne of Konan. It will require all of your considerable talents, and at the moment, you are badly wounded."  
  
"It sounds impossible, no matter what I do."  
  
Chichiri sighed. "Apparently, the gods don't think so. Which is ... not a great deal of comfort, I imagine."  
  
Hotohori laughed then, though it was a bleak enough sound. "No, Chichiri, not a great deal of comfort at all." After a moment of silence, he asked, "What of my brother? Lord Lo swears he was killed. Yet he seemed so real, in my dream. Could he be alive, somewhere in this realm, or in Kutou?"  
  
Chichiri looked grim. "Not every spirit seeks the Gates of Peace, Hotohori-sei. Some remain as vengeful ghosts, while others choose immediate rebirth, even in unsuitable circumstances, rather than undergo the self-judgement required within the Gates of Peace. Still other spirits take posession of living people, in order to avoid the... inconvenience... of conception, birth, and immaturity."  
  
"Could Nakago..." Nuriko began, but Chichiri shook his head. "Nakago is entirely... self-posessed," he assured her, with a rather grim smile. "I am surprised he allowed Seiryuu-shin even the limited control a god may exercise over shichi-sei. There are others among Seiryuu-shichi-sei who might be so posessed, but not, I think, by the man you describe, Hotohori-sei."  
  
Hotohori threw up his hands in frustration. "So essentially, Gochurien could be living, dead, inhabiting someone else's body or..."  
  
"Or, he could be a fabrication, simply a ... prop, if you like ... to force you to examine this issue. I am sorry, Hotohori-sei. I have no answer to give you."  
  
"Well." Nuriko stood up then and dusted off her... trousers? For the first time, Hotohori noticed that she was not gowned, but dressed simply, in clothes that would be suitable for travel. He found himself mourning for the court beauty she had been, but remembering Hummingbird's words, he said nothing.  
  
"At least we can do something about heart healing," Nuriko continued. "We have most of the experts in the realm of Konan right here in the palace, after all. Surely..."  
  
"Nuriko." Hotohori wasn't quite sure whether to be alarmed or amused by her sudden burst of energy. "Nuriko, I can't just... Do you have any idea how closely I am watched? If I..." words failed him, and he turned to Chichiri for support. To his annoyance, the bland, masked monk had replaced the priest, and he seemed rather amused by Hotohori's protests.  
  
"Perhaps it is a good idea, na no da. I will go and consult Robin." As the monk approached it, the door opened to let him out, and it closed smoothly behind him.  
  
Nuriko was pacing vehemently back and forth from the side of the bed to the door of the dressing room. Her path took her about two feet in front of Hotohori. "I wish..."  
  
With a sigh, he motioned for her to continue.  
  
"I just wish *I* could be the one to complete the healing, that's all."  
  
Hotohori began to feel that he had chosen entirely the wrong people to confide in. "Nuriko, listen to me. This whole idea is insane. It would be all over the palace in ... less than a day, certainly. Perhaps it would have been possible... elsewhere. Though, I'm not sure I want to ..." He sighed then. "I want to *choose* someone... for herself... not ... employ a skilled ..."  
  
"Can you not let the love we have for you be enough? We want -- no, we need -- to help you."   
  
"That's just it, Nuriko. Everyone takes care of me. I am dressed, bathed, scheduled, fed, advised... I don't want to be... bedded. I want to find someone who will take from me what I want to give her. If... if I were not the emperor, I might have had that with Miaka, I think. But, I'm willing to find another love, if only I can be an ordinary man in this one way. Robin would say I should take the gift you offer, for the sake of the realm, but... I just can't."  
  
Nuriko sat down then, looking utterly defeated. "I'm sorry, Hotohori. I never thought it through, I suppose. You know that I will do whatever you wish. It's just that your pain hurts us, almost unbearably sometimes."  
  
"Nuriko..."  
  
She shook her head. "Shh. It's all right. Chichiri-kun is right... it is you who will have to find the solution to this problem. I just want you to know that we will be there when you need us."  
  
"I know it. Your strength has supported me, not just in the past few days, but from the day I met you. I think I rely on all of you as much as Miaka does."  
  
"I wish Miaka *would* rely on us. Did I tell you what she got herself into the other day?" Nuriko gave him the latest gossip from the ship, and he let her go on, recognizing the generosity of her impulse to lighten his mood. In time, she took her leave, and Hotohori had his first minutes of solitude -- or at least, as much solitude as the palace offered -- on this day.  
  
Examining his emotions, he found them less tender than before he had spoken to his friends. He thought that at least he could manage to bathe without scrubbing his own skin off -- as if doing so would erase his mother's influence on either his body or his mind. He still felt that bathing could not possibly cleanse him, but at least, perhaps, he could relax there. The only problem was summoning the energy to rise, and eventually boredom supplied that. With a sigh, he made his way to the dressing room and began to prepare for the bath. 


	11. Konan Nights, ch 11

Despite his fears, Hotohori was in fact very gentle with himself as he scrubbed for the bath. He felt a strange physical fragility, though whether it was due to the lingering fatigue, his various feelings of loss, or his personal shame, he couldn't have said. He felt... ugly, he realized with a small shock. For a moment, the image of himself shackled, emaciated and filthy flashed in his mind -- he shut the door on it firmly, before he could remember the sensation of losing his connection to Suzaku-shin.  
  
Trying to flee his memories made him restless, and he stood up abruptly. The body servants who had helped him scrub took it as a sign that he wished to bathe; they withdrew to the furthest reaches of the bathing room, giving him, if not privacy, at least some space to call his own. Since he was standing, he walked to the bath, descended the steps and surrendered himself to the hot water that buoyed up his body, if not his spirit.  
  
Here at least he could weep, if he was silent, since no one was near enough to see -- he had learned that much over the years. As the tears trickled into the water, he felt a moment of impatience with himself -- normally he would have shaken off a mood like this quickly. Normally, he reminded himself, he would not have an entire afternoon free of duties; he almost wished he had not given himself this day of leisure before beginning the round of his normal duties. But... he was still too tired to function very well...  
  
He was startled to feel a hand touching his cheek, and then a thumb gently wiped away the tears from his left eye. He froze, trying to understand what was happening. Another spirit-dream?  
  
The hand was gone for a moment, but when he felt the tears wiped from his right eye he flailed to stand upright. No one was near him. The bathing attendants had risen in case he needed assistance. The alarmed expressions on their faces were strangely calming; he collected his wits and waved them to return to their waiting. Looking like a madman in front of the servants was impossible for him -- he could almost hear his mother's voice scolding, "Sahitei, you are shaming yourself before the servants!"  
  
No one was near him. He reached up a tentative hand to touch his face, and it felt no more or less real than the phantom hand he had felt a moment before...  
  
He heard a small, rather guilty-sounding chuckle. "I am sorry, Heika. I didn't know you could feel that."  
  
He recognized the voice at once -- he had spoken to her in the harem, in his spirit dream. So... was he dreaming again?  
  
"Lady?" he murmured, hoping the servants would not hear.  
  
"Will you forgive me, Heika?"  
  
Damn -- the servants were watching him rather closely. He turned away, and tried what felt like a very foolish experiment -- he tried *thinking* a response at the girl. "Of course, lady. How could I be angry with such a beauty?" This had to be the stupidest thing he had ever done...  
  
He heard a giggle. "Now you're making fun of me, Heika."  
  
It was time to get back to normal -- or at least appear to, he decided. So he let himself relax in the water's embrace. "I'm not making fun of you. How do you manage to talk to me like this, lady?"  
  
There was a moment of silence that felt puzzled, somehow. (How could he detect puzzlement in a moment of silence, a pocket of sanity in his mind asked.) "I thought it was just another thing the Peephold does."  
  
He wondered if he was simply insane or if that made some sort of sense. After a moment, she spoke in a rather subdued voice. "Don't you know about the Peephole?"  
  
"No," he admitted, though a strange feeling of dreadful impending revelation was beginning to make itself felt.  
  
"Oh, dear. They didn't tell us that."  
  
He decided he could wait her out -- she had seemed young enough to be unnerved by silence. And imperial silence, he had learned, had a certain... density.  
  
"Heika, I'm terribly sorry. I thought -- we all thought -- you knew."  
  
"What is the Peephole, Lady?" he asked, hoping that she would be able to sense the command inherent in the question. It worked in Court... usually.  
  
"I don't think I..."  
  
"Lady."  
  
"The... wall, between that room and the harem is... magical, somehow. We can sit here and watch you. Some of the artistic ladies are here most days -- they draw you from life, or sometimes from their own imagination. The rest of us... well, you are the reason we are here, after all. We love to study you..."  
  
"What you are telling me is that every time I bathe..."  
  
"Some of us are nearly always watching. Yes, I'm afraid so. We thought you knew..."  
  
He felt an absurd impulse to hide, or at least get the attendants to dress him. But... it was a bit late for that, surely.  
  
"So, just to be clear. That painting you showed me..."  
  
"Isn't the only one, no. They are everywhere, in here. That one is ... my favorite." He felt she was on the verge of tears, and despite his own growing annoyance, he found he couldn't bear her distress.  
  
"Lady, don't cry, please. I'm not angry with you, I promise." The words came out a bit more .. tender than he had intended.  
  
"I'll tell the others, Heika, and I won't come here anymore."  
  
"NO!" Oops, he had said that aloud, he realized. Impatiently, he pulled himself out of the bath, not bothering with the steps, and let the attendants dress him, an activity that didn't require much thought on his part. "Please come back, lady. I have few enough people to talk with... But," he added a bit tartly, "you have to promise to leave when I ask it."  
  
"Of course, Heika. ...Am I really the only one here who talks to you... like this?"  
  
"Apparently so." I only hope the gods let it stay that way, he thought fervently.  
  
"That's ... kind of nice," she responded shyly.  
  
He smiled then, a little flattered in spite of himself. "Let's keep it a secret," he suggested. "But... you might want to talk to Butterfly about keeping the ladies away while I am bathing."  
  
"I... I will speak to her, Heika." She sounded rather apprehensive about that conversation.  
  
"If you would rather I..."  
  
"No, Heika. It is we who have been discourteous, though not intentionally. I will speak to Butterfly."  
  
He surprised himself by asking, "If... if I bathe every day just before dawn, would you come and... talk to me?"  
  
"I would be honored, Heika."  
  
"I will see you tomorrow then, Lady."  
  
His attendants finished about the same time the conversation did, and he walked briskly out of the bathing room, discarding options as he went. Talking to Nuriko would be pointless -- she obviously knew all about this feature of the harem, and had neglected to inform him. Chichiri's amusement was more than he wanted to face right now, though he might have a general discussion with the monk soon about the sorts of magic features built into this palace.  
  
He turned his steps toward the most probable location of the Crimson Moon healers. If he guessed wrong, he could go back and ask Chin, but he had lived in the palace all his life -- he was probably not wrong. When he reached the right area, he stopped a servant to ask for the room he wanted, and it was indeed where he expected. The servant quite correctly led him there and saw him admitted, rather than have the emperor scratching at doors. Hotohori suppressed an impulse to laugh of the absurdity of the measures taken to protect his dignity.   
  
Robin, of course was in bed, well attended by Narcissus, who stretched out on one side of him, and the small white dog, who nestled against his other side. Narcissus sprang to his feet when Hotohori entered, while the little dog seemed far less impressed with the imperial presence. Smiling just a little, Hotohori dismissed the servant and pulled a chair over to the side of the bed opposite Narcissus and sat down, taking Robin's hand.  
  
"Please, Narcissus, relax. I don't have to be official until tomorrow." Turning his attention to Robin, he looked the young man over. "You look a great deal better."  
  
Robin smiled, hearing the very real concern in the emperor's voice. "Otome-sama thinks very quickly in a crisis, Heika. I owe him my life, surely." The young man looked Hotohori over critically. "You do not look as well as I had hoped."  
  
"I'm fine, really..."  
  
Robin shook his head, smiling sadly. "I am sorry, Heika, but you cannot deceive us in such matters. Best not to try, ne? Come now, tell me what has happened since ... " his voice faltered a moment, then he finished, "late last night."  
  
Briefly, and with as little detail as possible, Hotohori told him of the dream, of his discovereies that morning, and even of the conversation he had had in the bath. Though he managed not to lose control of his emotions this time, he doubted Robin missed much. "So, he concluded, trying to lighten the gloom of his revelations, "it seems I have been the butt of several cosmic jokes lately."  
  
He had still not released Robin's hand, Hotohori noted in surprise. He surprised himself further by letting that hand remain where it was.  
  
"The harem joke is at least funny," Robin observed with a smile at Hotohori's indignant response. "Come now, Heika -- I think it is a fair exchange. You ask these ladies to await your pleasure, putting their own lives in stasis for a year or more. Surely they are entitled to whatever pleasure watching you affords, and any sensible person would find that very pleasant indeed." To his dismay, Hotohori felt himself blushing, and Robin's smile grew wider, making him blush still more.  
  
Robin patted his hand then, and he felt the embarrassment dissipate. After a moment, Hotohori found himself smiling, just a bit. "I'm glad I met her at any rate. It's odd, you know. I had no friends from the time I took the throne until I met Miaka and the shichi-sei. Now, suddenly, within a few days, I have found her, and you as well."  
  
The look of surprised pleasure in Robin's eyes was something Hotohori felt he could keep in the treasure-stores of his memory. Smiling, he added, "No one else wants to talk about fashion, you know -- I don't know how I've lived without you -- both of you."  
  
Narcissus burst out laughing then. "You are flattering him outrageously, Heika. Look at him! He looks like Lotus Blossom when someone pets her." Robin turned his head to glare at his lover, and the little dog nudged at the hand that held the emperor's. Hotohori released Robin's hand then, and gave the little dog a pat. He was rewarded by a full performance of begging for further attention, which set Narcissus off again. But at least Narcissus relented enough to scoop the dog up and put her firmly on the floor. "If you can't behave in front of the emperor, go lie down," he told the dog sternly, though he was smiling. After a moment spent considering him, the dog went to lie under the table.  
  
"Help me sit up for a bit, love," Robin requested, and Narcissus deftly arranged the pillows and helped Robin recline against them. They were a pleasure to watch, the emperor thought. When he was settled, Robin offered his hand, and Hotohori took it.  
  
They sat in silence for a time, then Robin observed, "The gods have not been entirely kind to you, Heika. But... perhaps they have not taken more than they have given. It seems to me..." He seemed of two minds whether to go on, and searched Hotohori's eyes for a long moment before deciding to continue. "Even the gods cannot replace the six brothers you have lost," he observed hesitantly, "but... perhaps they have given you six brothers in exchange."  
  
Hotohori's mind went blank for a moment, as he tried to understand Robin. Then, he saw the man's point. "You mean the other shichi-sei, don't you?"  
  
"Desu. I had no brothers myself, of course, but it seems to me that the bond you seven share is exactly what is meant by brotherhood." His expression challenged Hotohori to consider it. After a moment, the emperor nodded.  
  
"They certainly squabble enough to be brothers," he observed lightly, mostly because he was a little afraid to probe the more serious implications of Robin's suggestion. He found himself thinking of the unity of purpose they all felt when Miaka was threatened -- at such moments, they became seven men with a single will. He wondered if he would ever have felt such unity of purpose with his true brothers.  
  
"I will consider your words carefully. You are... very wise and very kind. Thank you, Robin." Hotohori said softly.  
  
"You are very welcome, Heika," Robin responded gravely.  
  
Hotohori found himself too restless to remain seated. Withdrawing his hand from Robin's, he stood, then cursed his restlessness when Narcissus also rose. He had not meant to disturb the tranquility of their pose -- something about it made him hopeful that he might be able to lie beside someone that way, someday...  
  
"Is there anything I can do for you?" he asked then.  
  
Narcissus and Robin exchanged a look. "Do you know what became of the Crimson Moon? Is it still standing?" Narcissus asked rather anxiously.  
  
Hotohori looked down. "I apologize that I haven't looked into that yet. I'm afraid I don't actually know where the Crimson Moon was... I'll send Chin to get details of the location of the building and we'll send some of the civil guard to check."  
  
"The flames were pretty fierce," Narcissus observed softly. "But... if Hummingbird's body wasn't consumed..."  
  
Hotohori wanted to go to the young man and offer some sort of comfort, but ... perhaps the best thing he could do was to leave the two alone again. "I'll make sure the guard is aware of the possibility. Also... the crown will compensate you for the property loss, since the attack was due to my presence there."  
  
"Thank you," Robin replied. "That will make it a great deal easier for us to make a new start."  
  
Hotohori nodded, and took his leave. Once outside the door, he paused, not sure what to do next. It was still early afternoon -- normally, he would probably have Court now...  
  
Walking back to his rooms, he considered the possibilities. He could summon the harem administrators, but he prefered to wait on that until he had received the report Lo and Jimu were doubtless preparing at this moment.  
  
Another idea occurred to him then, and he quickened his steps. After all, this might be the only free afternoon he would have for months...  
  
Chin was awaiting him at the door of his room -- it really was not natural, the way he anticipated the emperor's needs, Hotohori decided. Leading Chin into the dressing room, Hotohori gave him the instructions regarding the Crimson Moon. "Send one of the palace clerks with the guard, once you have the location," he concluded. "I will want a detailed estimate of the damage and an estimate of the cost of repairing or rebuilding. Ideally, I'd like that by tomorrow morning."  
  
Chin nodded, accepting the instructions, and Hotohori allowed himself to forget about the matter. "Next, please send to see if any of the shichi-sei are in the palace. Since I have this afternoon free, I think I will ride out to the ship."  
  
"Heika, it is rather cold today, and you have not been well," Chin began, but when Hotohori raised a hand, he sighed and subsided. "As you wish, Heika." He laid out warm travelling clothes and summoned the body servants, then left to attend to the instructions he had received.  
  
Just as Hotohori finished dressing, he heard Nuriko's voice in the outer chamber, and smiled. It would be good to travel with Nuriko, instead of a couple of silent guards, he thought. Though... it might be well to bring the guards as well, if only to avoid a look of dispproval from Chin. He hurried out of the dressing room then, and Nuriko's face lit up at the sight of him.  
  
"Hotohori-sei, you look a great deal better than you did this morning. Robin said..."  
  
Did no one have anything better to do than to discuss him? "Did he also say that I would have a thing or two to... discuss... with you?" he asked mildly. Nuriko had the grace to look a little embarrassed, and Hotohori left her to stew a moment while he instructed Chin.  
  
"We'll need good horses and yes, send a couple of guards along. It can't hurt in these unsettled times."  
  
He stepped briskly into the hallway, and Nuriko fell easily into step beside him. He gave her a sidelong glance, noticing that his friend was dressed in the same sort of warm trousers and tunic he himself wore. We really might be brothers, he thought. It was at once pleasant and disturbing to think of Nuriko that way...  
  
He let the silence stretch while they walked to the outside walls of the palace. Nuriko was equally silent, whether because she hesitated to disturb his silence or because she wasn't eager to begin the conversation he intended to have, Hotohori wasn't sure. He was grimly pleased that -- for once! -- he was in a position to discomfit Nuriko, rather than the other way around.  
  
It was not until they left the city walls and the guards dropped back out of earshot that Hotohori broke the silence. "Tell me, Nuriko. Do the women of my harem often weep?"  
  
It wasn't the question she had expected, he saw. In fact, she seemed to be scrambling to collect her wits, as if she had been so focused on the explanation she expected to have to make that it took her a moment to actually understand his question. Better and better -- Hotohori knew that feeling all too well, and she was usually responsible for it...  
  
"Sometimes, Heika... at first," she responded hesitantly.  
  
"Why?" he asked.  
  
She turned to study him then. He hoped his face reflected only the honest concern he felt, rather than the memory of how ... that girl's ... tears had affected him. It occurred to him then that he hadn't even asked her name -- had all his wits fled?  
  
He was so occupied with berating himself for idiocy that he almost missed the beginning of Nuriko's quiet reply.  
  
"It is not something we talk about, usually, but... Life in the harem is not like anything outside." She seemed to be searching for words, and after a moment she laughed. "Sometimes we used to have debates -- very fierce ones, I promise you -- about how you imagined us. The majority opinion was that you regard us as a sort of private pleasure garden -- an oasis of beautiful flowers, lavishly tended, intended for no one's pleasure but yours. There's truth to that view, I suppose... I must admit we sometimes seemed like flowers, turning in unison to catch the light of one single sun.  
  
"Still, I always held out for the fruit theory, particularly in its peach variant. We are like perfectly ripe peaches, dangling from a lovely old tree within your easy reach -- each of us trying to outdo the others in the delicacy of our color and the headiness of our perfume, each of us seeking to bewitch you with light and sweetness, so that you will reach up to discover whether that tinted flesh is as soft as it looks and to judge what sweet juices await the kiss of your mouth.  
  
"But no seduction is one-way, Heika. The softly-tinted robes we wear to catch your eye touch us everywhere, carressing the tips of our breasts and our soft inner thighs, stroking our bellies and buttocks and the backs of our legs from hips to ankles. Perfumes meant to draw you near also inflame us. Every supper we receive is accompanied by tiny sweet delicacies that invite the caresses of our lips and tongues as we savor them. It is agony sometimes... but it is our duty to remain thus, until you choose to release our ripeness by claiming one of us." After a moment, she added, almost too softly for him to hear, "It is unbearably sweet, sometimes..."  
  
He was shaken by Nuriko's words. It was nothing he had imagined. Robin's earlier observation about his privacy being a fair exchange for the maidens' service came back to him then -- he had asked a great deal of the ladies of the harem, he thought, without ever knowing it.   
  
He said as much to Nuriko, who smiled. "Well, it isn't as bad as all that, Heika. There are many good things about harem life, after all. One is surrounded by sisters, always, and a great many kindnesses are exchanged. For some of the ladies, being away from the parents' household is a very real advantage. The chance of being an Empress -- your Empress, specifically -- is... exhilerating, really. And, when one tires of harem life, a good marriage is always available. Women of the harem are greatly prized as brides, Heika. They are maidens, certainly, but even if they go to the marriage bed with shy blushes, once they reach it, they know exactly what they want!" Nuriko made a gesture so rude that Hotohori had to laugh. A moment later, she looked back in chagrin. "Ummm, sorry, Heika. I forgot about our watchers back there..." And he had to laugh again at her embarrassment.  
  
"You're impossible, Nuriko," he observed. After a moment, he dared to ask, "What are you doing about ... Hummingbird's warning?"  
  
Nuriko sighed. "I seek the balance she described, but I haven't found it yet. Chichiri-kun helps, fortunately. Of course, when I complain he suggests I go back to Taitsukun and let the Nyan-nyans 'cure' me. I suppose that, as a way of getting me to work harder, that one is pretty effective."  
  
Hotohori smiled, but he couldn't help feeling that he was losing the Nuriko he had learned to depend on and ... love. Well, all he could do was stay out of the way. Perhaps he would talk it over with Robin.  
  
They reached the ship soon afterwards, and were enthusiastically greeted by Miaka and the other five shichi-sei. Hotohori found himself enjoying their company more than usual -- here was yet another group of people who thought of him first as a friend and only secondly as the emperor. He was content to follow them around as they showed him the preparations they had already made, and described the problems they had overcome. Just for this short time, he allowed himself to imagine that he could go with them -- into danger, of course, but somehow, it felt like a cleaner sort of danger than he felt himself facing. Well, perhaps they thought the opposite -- would any of them have preferred to remain behind and... Hotohori suppressed a laugh then as he imagined Tasuki holding Court...  
  
Far too soon, the guards hailed him to suggest he return to the capital before dark. He said his farewells -- even Nuriko was staying aboard for the night -- and turned to return to the guards. Halfway down the gangplank, he stepped on something and nearly twisted an ankle. Looking down, he saw that it was a clamshell, but something seemed odd about it. He reached down and picked it up, just as Chichiri shouted a warning. But he did not heed the monk's cry to drop it -- something compelled him to examine the thing more closely. As he brought it closer to his face, something like a gray mist reached for him from the clamshell and pulled him into darkness. 


	12. Konan Nights, ch 12

Hotohori was not greatly surprised to find himself back in the dungeon he had dreamed of earlier. Although he had not been able to obey Chichiri's warning, he had understood exactly what it meant -- the clamshell was some sort of magic device, and it had apparently captured him. He supposed, given his current location, that Gochurien had something to do with that.  
  
He wondered if he was truly here, or if this was another sort of spirit dream With a grimace of distaste, he decided he had best assume the worst -- that he had been physically captured and taken outside his own realm. A small, gibbering part of himself wanted to panic but... he dared not allow it to surface.  
  
He took the time to look around himself carefully, since he seemed to be unobserved at the moment. The conditions here were as squalid as he remembered -- he sat in a mound of moldering staw, he was filthy and emaciated, and the smell of the chamber pot was indescribably vile. He also could feel the vermin that had taken up residence on his body, and for just a moment he had to fight back a wave of physical revulsion that threatened to drive him to despair. But...  
  
It occurred to him then that he couldn't have deteriorated physically to this extent in a day or two. Perhaps he had been in this dungeon for weeks at least, without remembering it, but... no, he would not allow himself to believe that, since it implied that he had been out of touch with events in Konan for that long. Alternatively, perhaps his pessimistic assumption was unfounded, and he was here in spirit only. Having his body still in Konan was an infinitely better situation than he had first imagined, and he decided abruptly to believe that he was dealing only with mental images here. No real lice, no real chamber pot. It didn't make him comfortable, but it was bearable.  
  
He looked around himself again, hoping for something he might use as a weopon, if only in his own defense. Nothing looked promising. Gochurien had worn a sword the last time he had appeared here; tossing handfuls of filth at him was unlikely to erase that kind of advantage. Though the image did have a certain appeal, he put it aside.  
  
Well, Hotohori decided grimly. He was supposed to be resting today. He might as well do that here.  
  
Making himself as comfortable as he could manage, he willed himself to relax and, if possible, sleep.  
  
He was woken by a none-too-gentle kick in the ribs. It startled him enough that he tried to stand, only to be stopped by the shackles. For a moment, he struggled for balance -- physical and emotional both. He needed his wits about him, but the sudden physical transition from sleep to wakefulness, the equally sudden emotional transition from peace to defensiveness, and the urgent need to face his opponent calmly all conspired to leave him floundering.  
  
He heard a soft laugh, and was startled to realize it was not Gochurien's voice. Oddly, that calmed him, and he was able to gather his wits before looking up to evaluate his new enemy.  
  
Four men stood in the rather cramped space of his cell. He recognized Gochurien and Nakago; the other two were unknown to him, although... Yes, the other two men, one about his own age and one several years younger, bore the unmistakeable stamp of his father's genes. So, at least three of his brothers -- Gochurien, Ruipen and one of the youngsters -- had somehow allied with Nakago.  
  
The youngest man laughed -- actually giggled -- again, and his boot connected with Hotohori's ribs a second time.  
  
"Stop it, Rikkyou," Gochurien commanded, and the young man giggled again, but kept his boots to himself. Hotohori vaguely recalled Rikkyou as a clumsy toddler; he had once remarked to his father than the boy seemed very stupid, and had received a very painful cuff on the head in return...  
  
"General Nakago," Hotohori greeted his enemy courteously, ignoring his brothers for the moment.  
  
"Konan-no-Koutei," Nakago responded with equal courtesy. He then turned to Gochurien. "I have delivered him, as promised," he observed calmly.  
  
"But you let *them* take his body back," Rikkyou whined, until a glare from Ruipen stopped him cold.  
  
Nakago ignored this interruption, continuing to regard Gochurien steadily. After a long moment, Gochurien nodded reluctantly. Nakago bowed and turned to leave, but then thought better of it and turned to face Hotohori. "Perhaps it is only fair that you understand the bargain you are sealing, Konan-no-Kotou. Your half-brothers wish to return to the world and possess bodies of their choice. I have offered them the opportunity to do so, if they can destroy you. Of course, they have no access to your body, but if they render you incapable of ruling, that will be sufficient."  
  
"I see only three of my brothers," Hotohori observed.  
  
Nakago shrugged. "One sought the Gates of Peace. Two were immediately reborn, and have already grown into men I have found use for."  
  
"And if my brothers cannot destroy me?"  
  
Nakago shrugged. "I will know more about you than I do now, Konan-no-Kotou. In the end, I will destroy you."  
  
With a courteous nod, he walked out -- in fact, through -- the door. Hotohori wondered briefly whether he might be able to do that, too; he suspected not.  
  
Another kick brought his attention sharply back to his brothers. Gochurien was in the midst of delivering a punishing backhand slap to Rikkyou for that latest kick; Hotohori took in the way both of them moved and decided that, if he were unshackled, he could probably take either of them in unarmed combat. Of course, since there were three of them, and they had weopons, it wasn't an immediately useful observation. Hotohori concentrated on gathering himself in the most balanced position he could manage. It didn't feel like much of an improvement.  
  
It wasn't. Before Rikkyou had finished staggering back from Gochuien's blow, the stocky man launched himself at Hotohori, pummeling him with fists and boots. He began with the emperor's face and worked his way down. It was a very thorough beating, made worse by the fact that Hotohori's shackled leg was abraded when he lost his balance, and his right wrist was sprained or broken when a blow pulled that chain too taut. In the end, Hotohori had to give up any idea of resistance, since he could no longer think ahead to anticipate the next blow.  
  
And as if that was what his brother sought, the beating stopped. Beyond the ringing in his ears, he heard giggling and heavy breathing. After a moment, a mouthful of spittle landed on the emperor's face. And a moment after that, Gochurien, Ruipen and Rikkyou turned on their heels and filed out of his cell, closing the door behind them.  
  
Hotohori half-lay where they had left him, unable to recline fully because of the wrist shackle. Not nearly soon enough, his senses grayed out.  
  
When the mists cleared, he found himself looking down at himself, lying in his own bed at the palace.  
Miaka sat on one side of his bed; Nuriko sat very close to him on the other side. For the first time, he saw signs of weeping on Nuriko's face. He wanted to go to her, but found he could not change his position. Nor could he speak, even though he tried to form words. After a moment's thought, he tried thinking words to Nuriko, then to Miaka, as he had with the girl from the harem. But... both of them seemed completely unaware of him.  
  
The door to the hallway opened then, and Chichiri strode in, followed more decorously by Chiriko. Chin, who had apparently been waiting out of the way in the dressing room, came out to meet them and offer them tea. Chin looked as grim as Hotohori had ever seen him. When it appeared nothing was needed from him, he did not withdraw as Hotohori expected. Instead, he stood just beyond Nuriko, staring at the unconscious figure of his emperor.  
  
Chichiri looked meaningfully at Chiriko, who bowed first to Miaka, then to Nuriko. "We have studied the strange object Koutei-Heika picked up. It appears to be a magic device for capturing the mind of an enemy and creating a seemingly real world for that mind to inhabit."  
  
"What kind of world?" Nuriko demanded.  
  
Chichiri shrugged, "We examined it as closely as we dared, no da, without causing it to reactivate."  
  
"Reactivate?" Chin cried in alarm. "Could it do him further harm?"  
  
Chiriko shook his head. "I don't believe so -- Koutei-Heika is already trapped within the dreamworld inside that device. I believe if it could have drawn him bodily into that world, it would have done so."  
  
"By the gods... look!" Chin pointed to the bed, drawing everyone's attention to the unconscious emperor. Hotohori saw that bruises were forming on his own face, there below him. As he watched, his lips were split. He remembered those blows, actually...  
  
Chichiri reacted first, sprinting from the room. "I'll get Mitsukake-sei, no da!" he called back.  
  
Chin bustled into the private rooms of the suite and returned with warm water and cloths. "Suzaku-no-miko, I beg that you will withdraw while we bathe his majesty with this medicine." Miaka nodded and withdrew to a discreet distance, biting her lips. Nuriko, meanwhile had seized some of the cloths, and was already bathing the bruises on the emperor's face while Chin began folding back clothing.  
  
It took very little time for Chichiri to return with the healer. Mitsukake also wasted no time -- as quickly as he reached the emperor, his hands explored the extent of the injuries that were still showing themselves. "What's happening to him?" the healer demanded. "It looks almost as if he is ... tumbling down a slope or..."  
  
"Can you fix it?" Nuriko demanded, probably more sharply than she intended.  
  
"I won't let him sustain a life-threatening injury but... I need to wait, to handle the worst injuries first, in case he is more badly injured than I can completely repair." Mitsukake's voice sounded both tense and distant. Nuriko wisely let him work without further interruption.  
  
As Hotohori continued to float impotently, he watched additional bruises and abrasions appear on his own skin. Sometimes Mitsukake reacted immediately, and a bruise disappeared. Often the healer simply waited. Finally, the healer nodded. "Very well, whatever was happening seems to have stopped. I can heal this." And with that, he bent to lay his hands on Hotohori, and Hotohori found himself snatched away...  
  
... back to the dungeon. The good news, Hotohori decided, is that I feel a great deal better than I did earlier. The ache in his right forearm, sprained or perhaps broken during the beating, eased, and then disppeared. One by one, every bruised muscle was eased, every cut and abrasion was closed. Hotohori felt a deep weariness overtake him, and he slept.  
  
When he woke, he was still alone, and rather relieved to have time to think before confronting his attackers again.  
  
Had he really been in the palace? If so, there must be some way to communicate with the others, even it he hadn't found it this time... It was a tiny shred of hope, but he clutched it tightly.  
  
The door to his cell opened then, and he gathered himself as well as he could. This time Ruipen entered alone. Hotohori evaluated his brother carefully. He looked strong enough, and he wore a short sword, but for whatever reason, Ruipen had not struck a blow either at Hotohori or at Rikkyou. What that might mean...  
  
"So. I'm surprised you are conscious, actually. I expected that you would be out for hours."  
  
"Why are you here then?" Hotohori heard the edge in his own voice, and cursed himself briefly. He had to watch and not provoke these men. He remembered what one of his first combat instructors had told him, "Keep your temper. Watch your enemy. In time, if he doesn't kill you outright or make you lose your temper, he will give himself to you. Watch!" Hotohori considered offering Ruipen an apology, then decided to leave bad enough alone.  
  
"Perhaps I just wanted to hurt you while you were unconscious," Ruipen answered softly. Hotohori managed to keep his reaction hidden... he hoped. Ruipen was watching him with frightening intensity.  
  
"Perhaps I wanted to rape you," Ruipen added very quietly. Hotohori stared back as impassively as he could manage.  
  
"You're smarter than you look," Ruipen observed next. "Those two oafs would have jumped at me by now, shackles or no." His eyes never left the emperor's face.  
  
Hotohori suddenly wondered if Ruipen had had the same combat instructor he had just remembered. It was possible, he decided.  
  
Ruipen moved closer then. His hand reached out and stroked Hotohori's face, and it was all the emperor could do not to flinch away. He found that he hated the other man's touch; in its way, it was worse than the lice that still fed on his -- incorporeal, he assured himself -- flesh.  
  
"Shall I kiss you?" Ruipen's face came close to Hotohori's. A wave of revulsion posessed the emperor; despite his best efforts, he drew back from his brother.  
  
"Ah. You are smarter than our brothers, but not as smart as me, I think. Good. They will fail, I am increasingly sure. And I will succeed. Do you know what the prize is, for whichever of us manages to give your realm to Nakago? The winner gets to posess your body." He leaned in then and kissed Hotohori's lips, first softly, and then brusingly. "I would like to inhabit that body, brother," he whispered, pulling away.  
  
Hotohori took a moment to fight down a mixture of disgust and impotent fury. Finally, he felt he could trust his voice. "You may not enjoy it so much in a realm ruled by Nakago and his imperial master," Hotohori observed as calmly as he could manage.  
  
Ruipen laughed then. "Do you expect the emperor of Kutou to survive your defeat by a single hour? I take back anything complimentary I may have said about your intelligence."  
  
Hotohori forced himself to shrug as if the information was of no interest. "I doubt that Nakago will be a pleasant overlord, if he indeed takes control of both realms."  
  
Ruipen sat back on his heels. "Now there I think you may be wrong. He is ruthless, but not wasteful. He preserves the lives of those loyal to him, which is more than either of you emperors seem to manage. Unlike either of you, he will be a worthy opponent... if I win."  
  
Hotohori regarded the other man thoughtfully. Keeping him talking seemed a good idea.  
  
"So... your ambition is to rule both realms?"  
  
Ruipen laughed. "Why not all four? Just because no one has managed to invade Hokkan..."  
  
"Our father tried, as I recall, but was thrown back."  
  
"Our father wasn't the world's best strategist, though, was he?"  
  
Interesting, Hotohori thought. The only weakness he had seen in Ruipen so far was his certainty of his own superior intellect.  
  
"He never lost a major campaign," Hotohori observed, watching Ruipen closely.  
  
"And he never thought twice about spending the lives of his men to do so. He was fortunate that none of his rivals was any smarter than he was -- Nakago would have wiped him out."  
  
Another possible weakness -- he seemed to have a sort of schoolboy crush on Nakago. Should he say something disparaging about Nakago? No, Hotohori decided -- if years of sitting in front of petitioners in open Court had taught him nothing else, he had learned when to avoid a confrontation.  
  
"So, you're content to be Nakago's lackey?" Hotohori asked, putting a bit of amusement into his voice.  
  
"Better him than one of you imperial ... jackals," Ruipen retorted, clearly stung. "But when the time comes, I expect I can send him back to whatever pest-ridden foreign land he comes from."  
  
"I assume you are aware that he is watching everything you do here," Hotohori pointed out.  
  
"Watching everything we do to *you*, you mean. He never shows it, but I think he hates you, Sahitei. Or maybe... he wants you. Do you suppose?"  
  
"He wouldn't be the first," Hotohori observed casually.  
  
The words weren't even out of his mouth before he realized his error. Ruipen threw himself on Hotohori, and the only consolation Hotohori had was that Ruipen was not nearly as effective with his fists as Gochurien. He seemed to recall that he had known that before he was five...  
  
In fact, Ruipen did very little damage. After only a couple of blows, he collapsed, weeping. Hotohori seemed to recall that behavior from his childhood, too. Hesitantly, he gathered the other man to himself, as he remembered doing when both of them were still in the nursery. When Ruipen did not fight back, Hotohori sighed and began to soothe him. At that moment, his own feelings were a mystery to him. After a bit of thought, he decided he didn't feel inclined to be this man's big brother, let alone his lover. Wearily, he catalogued Ruipen's third weakness -- apparently he envied Hotohori's beauty.  
  
As soon as Ruipen's weeping slowed, Hotohori released him. "You don't want the others to find you like this," he reminded his brother (as he had done often enough when they were boys). Ruipen practically sprang away then, much to Hotohori's relief. With a look of mingled fear and fury, Ruipen turned and fled from the room. As the door slammed, Hotohori noted that apparently only Nakago could do the walking through walls trick.  
  
Sighing, the emperor settled into the most comfortable position he could find and settled down to nursing his new bruises. After a time, he noticed that his thoughts seemed to have slowed down so much that he could see each one coming and watch it depart. He wondered if that was going to be a problem.  
  
It would be awfully convenient if he could will himself into the palace, the emperor decided after what felt like hours of nearly empty waiting. After a time, another thought came along: perhaps he could try.  
  
When he had developed a severe headache, he decided that he was wasting his efforts. For whatever reason he had seen -- or imagined he had seen -- events in his own rooms, he wasn't able to repeat the experience at will.  
  
Wishing for willowbark tea, he realized something odd. As long as he had been here, he ought to be thirsty, possibly hungry. He ought to have required the chamber pot. What did it mean, that he didn't seem to have normal bodily functions here?  
  
The most likely explanation was that, back at the palace, all his bodily needs were being attended to. So long as that was the case, and his brothers didn't think of battering him so badly and so quickly that no healer could keep up with the damage, he probably wasn't going to be killed here. Nakago knew that, he realized. What else might Nakago know?  
  
"Heika?"  
  
Hotohori looked up, startled out of his near trance of boredom. It had sounded like...  
  
"Utsukushisa-sama?"  
  
"Robin?" Hotohori came to full alertness, bashing his shackled wrist on the wall in his haste. "Are you really here?"  
  
"Ah, regrettably, no. I've managed to link to your spirit. I can see and hear what you do, but... I don't see a way to pull you back."  
  
Hotohori thought furiously. "Communication is worth a lot right now, Robin. Tell Chichiri that Nakago is behind this -- the magical underpinning anyway. And let them know that, if they can keep my body in decent shape there, I'm probably safe enough for awhile." What else? "Anything you can find out about three of my brothers, Gochurien, Ruipen, and Rikkyou, I need to know. Especially weaknesses... Ask Lo and Jimu. Now ... break your link with me. If possible I want to keep this communication channel a secret."  
  
"But Heika..."  
  
"Go on, Robin. Just carry information, don't try to do anything else yet. And ... if you link later and I'm not alone, *get out*."  
  
"Yes, Heika."  
  
Hotohori waited, but heard nothing more. He leaned back, smiling slightly. Apparently, his brothers didn't have everything their own way after all. 


	13. Konan Nights, ch 13

Hotohori was standing, which seemed a little odd, though he couldn't have said why at first. After a moment, he turned his eyes to his right hand, to see that it was not shackled. Looking at his right leg then, he saw the shackles lying there on the ground, along with the filthy loincloth. A glance down confirmed that he wore nothing at all -- not his apparel of choice in this situation, but he couldn't bring himself to put the loincloth back on.  
  
Walking to the door, Hotohori passed through it easily enough. He took a moment to think about that -- was he dreaming now, or was he really free? After a moment, he decided that there was only one way to find out, and looked around himself.  
  
Outside his cell was a slightly larger room, also of naked stone. This room contained shelves along one wall and a row of hooks along the opposite wall, with doors in the other two walls. One of those doors led to his cell -- the other, presumably, led somewhere better. However, he spent a moment to check what was stored on those shelves, in case it might be useable as a weapon. At first, he thought it was horse tack, but... No. There were straps, yes, and buckles, but from the size and arrangement, he was sure they were meant to be used to secure a person rather than a horse. It didn't take much imagination to realize that the person in question was himself.  
  
Moving to the other wall, he found more leather implements. One was indeed a riding whip, but the others...  
  
His father had made him -- made all three of them -- attend a public execution once. The experience had given him nightmares for years -- until he had forced his council to make such events private, at least in the capital. The gruesome theatricality of the event still made him sick to contemplate -- the way the executioners had built from relatively minor punishments to floggings, to mutilation, always whetting the crowd's appetite for blood, until the watching subjects had been screaming with excitement as the headsman raised the axe...  
  
His eyes had squeezed tightly shut as the memory replayed. Now he spent a few precious minutes breathing slowly, until he felt he dared open his eyes again.  
  
In front of him hung a flogger, very much like the one he had seen deployed that day. It was the closest thing to a weapon he had seen in here. He knew a whip could be used as a weapon, of course, though it had never been part of his training. But the steel braided into the leather strands would stop a sword for a time. It was better than nothing.  
  
Having nerved himself to take it, he was bitterly disappointed to find that he could not. His hand passed through the handle of the whip as his body had passed through the door. Very well, then. If speed was all he could rely on, he had better get moving.  
  
Slipping through the second door presented no problem, and this time he was in a hallway. Two ways to go ... he chose left. Ignoring several doors along the corridor, he continued at a trot until he came to a dead end. Or... perhaps not. As he stood in front of the wall for a moment, it became transparent, and he found himself looking into the throne room in the palace. The room was empty now, of course -- not even a clerk or a palace servant was to be seen. Hotohori extended his hand, hoping to move through this wall but... it was solid, at least to him. In fact, he felt the stones of the wall beneath his hand, even though his eyes told him he was touching nothing.  
  
Retracing his steps, he passed the door he thought led back into his cell and continued to the right. Again, he passed several doors and reached a dead end. Again, after waiting for a moment, the wall disappeared, this time offering a view of the ship he had visited ... what? yesterday? He could clearly see Tamahome and Tasuki arguing about something on the main deck, but this wall also was solid to his hands.  
  
Retracing his steps a second time, he passed through every door he encountered. The first -- the first? -- led back to his cell. Returning to the hallway, he tried the second, which also led back to his cell. He knew it was his cell because his discarded loincloth lay there, exactly as he had left it. Except the identical cloth lay in both cells, behind doors that appeared, from the hallway at least, to lead to different rooms.  
  
Discouraged, he returned to the hallway and looked around. It occurred to him to try passing through the walls rather than the doors, but he found he could not. The ceiling was out of reach, and didn't look any different from the floor or the walls. It was time to retrace his thoughts, rather than his steps, he decided grimly.  
  
Fact: his movements were constrained, if not actually controlled. The sense of freedom he had experienced when he was able to stand straight, unshackled, was very likely an illusion.  
  
Fact: there did not seem to be a way for him to leave this stretch of hallway and the series of rooms along it. For a moment, he rebelled at that -- perhaps this was a test of his intelligence. Ruipen might set up something like that... Well, he concluded grimly, if it is an intelligence test, I seem to have failed it. Pass on to something useful...  
  
Fact: he would have no defense if one or all of his brothers came down here now, Well, that didn't seem to lead anywhere. And he had had no defense while shackled in his cell, either.  
  
He went back over his discoveries -- the permeable doors, the impermeable walls, the storerooms and cells and the, for lack of a better word, windows.  
  
Information, he thought suddenly. So far, he had found two ways to get information about the outside world, and one way (possibly one way, he cautioned himself -- he didn't know if Robin had managed to convey his messages) to get information out.  
  
He drifted back to the right-hand window again and waited for it to clear. In a moment, the wall faded, but this time he saw, not the ship, but his own bedchamber in the palace. Chin was there alone, keeping watch over his emperor's unconscious body. The quality of the light suggested that most of the night had passed there.  
  
Hotohori wanted to pace restlessly, but forced himself to be still and think. If the window could change scenes... could he change it intentionally?  
  
He tried to think of Chichiri -- if anyone might sense a magical window in operation, it would be the monk -- but he found it difficult to concentrate. Some part of his hindbrain was on the alert, waiting for his brothers to arrive and recapture him. For a moment he was torn between self-preservation and possible contact. To concentrate on changing the window, he had to make himself vulnerable to recapture. If his brothers came upon him, it would cost him in pain -- having seen their storerooms, he could guess that the cost would be high. Set against that was the possibility of making contact with the one person who might be able to unlock this magical trap. There was no question of the correct choice -- the problem was forcing himself to make it.  
  
He couldn't bring himself to sit -- but then, the hard stones were no more uncomfortable to stand than to sit on. Finally, he forced himself to close his eyes and begin counting his breaths. In time, his ears stopped straining to hear approaching footsteps and the hairs at the back of his neck stopped tingling. When he felt calm enough, he concentrated on his clearest image of Chichiri: the priest standing before Hummingbird's wall scroll, searching for lost friends.  
  
"I told him not to even think about using the device, no da." Hotohori's eyes snapped open, and he saw Chichiri and Chiriko, apparently in one of the palace libraries. "Surely you did not give Nuriko-sei the device, Chiriko na no da!"  
  
"Of course not! I have it here." Chiriko pulled the clamshell from a pocket within his sleeve, then returned it to safekeeping. "I merely asked..."  
  
Chichiri held up a hand for silence, and his good eye began searching the room. Several times he seemed to look directly at the emperor, but each time his eye kept tracking past him. Fighting to remain calm, Hotohori concentrated as hard as possible on his friend, hoping to catch his attention somehow. Chichiri became still then, and a moment later his hands formed and held a mudra. Chiriko's eyes grew wide, and he exclaimed "Koutei-Heika!" A moment later, the child's eyes grew even wider, and it occurred to Hotohori that he had forgotten one element of calculation when deciding whether to stand or sit...  
  
"Can you hear me?" he asked urgently.  
  
"We can hear and see you," Chichiri responded.  
  
"Can you pull me through this... window or whatever it is?"  
  
"No, Hotohori-sei. It will not permit such passage."  
  
"All right... did Robin really contact me? And did he bring my messages back?"  
  
"He did, Koutei-Heika," Chiriko responded. "As I recall, Lord Lo said to be careful of Gochurien's temper, and that both he and Ruipen would trip themselves up with vanity, if you let them."  
  
"Did Jimu-san have any suggestions?"  
  
Chiriko looked a little dubious, but Chichiri laughed. "What Jimu said, Hotohori-sei, is that if you could beat those two in the nursery, when they were about twice your size, he expected you could do so now, na no da!"  
  
Hotohori appreciated the confidence, but advice would have been more welcome.  
  
"Is there any progress on..."  
  
Chichiri suddenly looked away from Hotohori and spat a curse. For a second, he looked back at the emperor, clearly torn with indecision. Then he sprinted from the room, shouting, "Nuriko! Stop!"  
  
"Koutei-Heika?" Chiriko wailed. It was clear that, without Chichiri's skills, the window had closed, at least on that side.  
  
Hotohori took a moment to calm his frustration. He ought to be able to refocus on Chichiri and at least see what...  
  
Instead, he felt a tugging, as if a rope attached to his navel was pulling him backward. He did his best to ignore the sensation, but a moment later, he felt himself being shaken, as if someone held his shoulders and sought to wake him up. The shaking made him lose his focus on the window, and that allowed the tugging to overcome his resistance. The window seemed to disappear, along with the wall he was standing beside and the cold, hard floor beneath his feet. Everything blurred, and he felt very dizzy. He closed his eyes in an effort to control his vertigo.  
  
When his senses steadied, he felt himself shackled once more. The chains were rattling, and he still felt like someone was shaking him... because, he realized after a moment, someone was. His eyes snapped open as he prepared himself to meet one of his brothers, but instead, he saw Nuriko bending over him, one hand on each of his arms, just below the shoulders. Apparently, Nuriko *had* been shaking him to wake him up. Now that he focused on her, he could hear her as well.  
  
"Hotohori, please! Please, we have to get out of here!"  
  
"Nuriko?" Relief flooded his friend's face. After a moment, Hotohori asked, "How did you get here?"  
  
"Robin slipped me in, after Chiriko refused. Come ..."  
  
"Damn it I told the boy..."  
  
"I couldn't refuse, Utsukushisa-sama." The voice sounded very tired. "If he can't get you out, I can at least get him back safely, even though I haven't figured out a way to get you back. Come with your friend, please. It may be he has the strength to escape."  
  
Hotohori spared a moment to wish that his friends would actually obey imperial commands. Then he stood (a glance at the wall showed that his shackles had been broken off close to the cuffs), and followed Nuriko. The door stood open and looked the worse for wear -- apparently, Nuriko wasn't able to walk through doors here. The storeroom outside was as he remembered it, but the hallway had changed. Now there was an iron staircase in a large room just down the hall to the left, and his cell appeared to be the only room on this level. Well, it made more sense than the other arrangement.  
  
He followed Nuriko, who was nearly running up the stairs. She still wore heavy-weight travelling clothes, he noted. At the moment, she seemed a little overdressed but -- he glanced down at his own loincloth -- maybe she'd be able to lend him something once they got out...  
  
"Where does this lead?" he asked.  
  
"Apparently, to a roof -- I left Robin to keep watch and checked it before I came for you. It looked like, with luck, I could climb down carrying you -- it isn't a very high building, and there were hand- and footholds."  
  
Hotohori grimaced in distaste at the prospect, but kept climbing. Ahead and above him, Nuriko grabbed the edge of the ceiling above her and pulled herself onto the floor above. A moment later she reached down and lifted him easily through. They stood for a moment, taking their bearings. It was chilly up here, and a gray fog made it impossible to see beyond the edge of the building.  
  
Nuriko turned, looking a bit worried. "It wasn't..." she began, only to be interrupted by a giggle.  
  
Hotohori whirled to face the sound. If anything, the fog was thicker than it had been, and he could see nothing, hear nothing. He stepped back then to put himself at Nuriko's side. "It sounded like my brother Rikkyou," he murmured. She nodded once and would have stepped in front of him, but he matched her movement so that they remained side-by-side, searching the fog for danger.  
  
The fog faded then, and it became clear they did not stand on a roof but in a snug, wood-paneled sitting room. A fire crackled in a hearth behind them, warming the backs of Hotohori's bare legs. In front of them, seated at their ease in two tapestry chairs sat Rikkyou and Ruipen. Ruipen raised a glass of wine to salute Hotohori and Nuriko.  
  
"That's a good toy!" Rikkyou announced in a high, childish voice and giggled again. "Nakago gave you a good toy, Ruipen!"  
  
"Yes, he did." There was an odd tenderness in the older man's voice. "And look, we have two more toys now. Do you want to help me play with them, Rikkyou?"  
  
The younger man looked around him apprehensively. "Will Gochie come?"  
  
Ruipen reached to muss Rikkyou's hair. "If he does, we'll just tell him the truth, won't we? This pretty boy let him out, we didn't. We can say we were just taking them both back, can't we?"  
  
Rikkyou searched his brother's face. "He'll be angry."  
  
"But not with us, I think. Come on, Rikki. Help me play with these two."  
  
During this conversation, Nuriko had turned and walked to the door. Not surprisingly, it didn't open to her hand. Nor could she budge it by main force.  
  
Ruipen had turned from his brother to watch, smiling faintly. "When he brought us here, Nakago gave us a little toy that lets us change things around as we like. We can have whatever rooms we want, whatever views we want." After a moment he added bitterly, "We just can't get out of here."  
  
He turned back to Hotohori. "One of the first things we did was create the room downstairs, you know. Nakago said you would come to us someday, so we wanted to have accomodations *worthy* of you."  
  
When Hotohori did not react to his barb, Ruipen shrugged and turned back to Rikkyou. Hothori took that moment to launch himself at him, raising his manacled wrists above his head to use as a club. Rikkyou gave a small cry of fear and held out his hands... and Hotohori stopped. Or rather, his forward momentum stopped; leaving him off-balance. He would have pitched forward on his face if Nuriko had not rushed forward to catch him.  
  
"I forgot to mention that Rikkyou has an interesting talent," Ruipen added casually.He can control other people's bodies. Show him Rikkyou."  
  
Nuriko's arms were suddenly pulled away, and Hotohori fell the last couple of feet to the floor. He pulled himself to his knees and looked back to be sure Nuriko was all right. She seemed unhurt, but the look on her face tore his heart. Getting his feet under him, he went to her side, took her hand in his, and with the other hand stroked her arm gently. "It's all right, Nuriko," he whispered. "None of this is your fault." But the look of stricken shock in her eyes did not fade.  
  
"Ah. Interesting." Hotohori turned his attention back to Ruipen, who wore a pleased smile. "I never thought we'd break you with whips, you know. Gochurien is too stupid to tell the difference between men and horses, really. But I think your pretty boy there has given us the key. What do you think, Rikkyou?"  
  
"He's very pretty, Aniki. Can I have him?"  
  
"Perhaps later. Right now we need to use him to hurt the *emperor* over there." In his mouth, the title was a filthy epithet.  
  
Rikkyou was bouncing up and down with pleasure. "Good! Good!"  
  
Ruipen flashed him an indulgent smile and turned to regard his two captives with mingled pleasure and thoughtfulness. "We could try some of Gochurien's toys on the pretty boy..."  
  
"No! I want to hurt the *emperor*, not the pretty boy. I want the pretty boy?"  
  
Ruipen sighed. "I suppose that's fair... if you help me now, you can have the pretty boy later. Deal?"  
  
"All right, I guess."  
  
Ruipen rose and went to his younger brother. Kneeling, he whispered to the boy, then kissed his cheek and returned to his own chair.  
  
Rikkyou smiled then and stared at Nuriko. With slow, jerky movements she removed her tunic, dropping it at her feet. Her hands went to her trousers, and for a moment she managed to resist. Then her hands moved again, and tears streamed from her eyes. Moving slowly, she removed the rest of her clothes. She -- no, clearly he -- turned to face the emperor then. Reluctantly, she took her penis in her hand and stroked it to hardness. Nuriko's face was flushed with shame, and he couldn't meet Hotohori's eyes. Taking a step toward Hotohori, Nuriko reached for his loincloth. Hotohori flinched away instinctively.  
  
Ruipen's voice was poisonously sweet. "Don't resist, Sahitei. If you do, we'll hurt your pretty boy. Rikkyou can be kind to him, or he can tear him apart. It's your choice."  
  
Hotohori closed his eyes and sought balance. To his surprise, he found it -- a stillness filled him, and with it a a sense of confidence. Jimu was right -- he had risen above Gochurien and Ruipen's pettiness and jealousy years ago. They had not changed since then -- they hadn't *lived* since then, while he had grown, learned to command and to listen to those he commanded. And... he had made true friends. Hotohori felt a wave of pity for his brothers, then. If he avoided giving himself to them, they would never touch him.  
  
Opening his eyes, he moved forward and touched Nuriko's face gently."Nuriko, it's OK. We'll get through this together."  
  
"No... I can't..."  
  
"Shh. *We* can. Don't resist them, it only makes them stronger." Leaning forward, he kissed his friend gently.  
  
"NO!" Nuriko pushed him away, but he moved barely an arm's length backward as Rikkyou took control of Nuriko's motion. Hotohori waited passively then, realizing that Nuriko could not accept any physical approach from him. He had no idea what to do to ease his friend's pain. So he simply faced her with an open heart, trying to will her to understand how much he wanted to help.  
  
Nuriko took a tiny step toward him, then stopped, trembling with effort. Another step. Another. Tears streamed from Nuriko's eyes, marring the beauty she had cultivated for so long. Hotohori had a momentary image of her face, eroded by those tears like a very old stone statue exposed to the elements. Hotohori had a moment of fear then, wondering if Nuriko would survive the struggle going on within. His brothers might not have the insight to break himself, but it was possible they would destroy Nuriko.  
  
He turned to Ruipen. "Release her, and I will help you defeat Gochurien."  
  
Rikkyou giggled. "This is fun. Don't want to let the pretty boy go."  
  
Ruipen regarded Hotohori with an expression of benign amusement. "Sorry, you hear the kid. I'm enjoying the show, too. Besides, I won't require your help to defeat Gochurien.  
  
There was only one thing Hotohori could think of to do... "Robin!" he called. "Get Nuriko out now!"  
  
"I... I can't." The voice was very weak. "The child holds Otome-sama's mind."  
  
Ruipen laughed out loud then. "You are full of surprises, Sahitei. Not one ally but two? You're better than I expe..."  
  
Hotohori launched himself at Rikkyou then, while Ruipen was self-absorbed. The boy cried out and turned his attention to Hotohori. "Now, Robin!" the emperor shouted, hoping that he could complete the attack on Rikkyou before Ruipen could gather himself. But when he reached his youngest brother, he simply passed through him. Now the momentum he had intended to use in the attack was working against him -- it looked as if he would simply slam into the wall.  
  
But... he passed through the wall as well, gathering speed until his senses refused to deal with the information overload and shut down.  
  
He slammed to a stop after a moment, and he felt exactly as disoriented as if he had slammed into a wall head-first. He felt a hand on his forehead then, and looked up at Mitsukake. The healer withdrew his hand, and Hotohori saw the shirushi shining crimson against the large man's palm. Glancing around, he saw that he was in his own bed. He felt the folds of a soft bedrobe against his skin -- a clean robe. The sense of relief was painfully intense. He closed his eyes for just a moment, trying to find the balance that had been there such a short time ago. To his relief, it was still within him.  
  
Grasping Mitsukake's hand, he pulled himself up, stopping Chin's protest before it could be voiced. A single sweeping glance told Hotohori that he was alone in the bed, and alone in the room except for Mitsukake and Chin.  
  
"Where are Nuriko and Robin?" he demanded, for once not hiding the imperial demand behind soft words.  
  
"They were taken to the woman called Butterfly, Heika," Chin responded quickly.  
  
"In the harem?"  
  
"No, of course not, Heika. I believe all three of them have been installed in a suite in this wing."  
  
"Fine. I'm going there now. Wait a moment, Mitsukake-sei, and then walk with me." Throwing off his bedclothes, Hotohori strode into his dressing room and chose the simplest robe that he could walk the halls in. Chin rushed to summon the body servants, but Hotohori waved him back. "Don't bother. I don't have time to wait."  
  
From the other room, Mitsukake offered, "A few minutes will make no difference, Hotohori-sei."  
  
Nevertheless, Hotohori strode out of the dressing room in very few short order, opened the door to the corridor, and waved Mitsukake into step beside him. "All right, what's been happening?"  
  
Mitsukake sighed. "After Robin reached you the first time, he nearly collapsed. Nuriko-sei was furious and frantic -- he made Chichiri's life miserable for an hour or more, then came stalking out the library. I'm sorry to say, none of us thought to keep track of him after that. The next thing I knew about it, I was called to your rooms to look at all three of you. Robin was the most depleted, so I stabilized him first..."  
  
The look of mingled apprehension and stubbornness in the tall man's glance made Hotohori laugh grimly. "You did exactly right, Mitsukake-sei... no matter what Chin may have had to say to you about the matter."  
  
Mitsukake nodded then, satisfied. "Nuriko-sei is well enough physically, but... I fear for his mind. And Robin... I just don't know, Hotohori-sei. There is physical healing required but I cannot accomplish it. He is... locked inside himself somehow. Other than preventing him from dying of physical exhaustion, I have not been able to change his condition in any way." Reaching the door he sought, he scratched briefly and then opened it for the emperor.  
  
Hotohori put a hand on Mitsukake's arm for a moment. "Rest now, if you like. If you are needed, someone will bring you."  
  
Mitsukake offered one of his rare smiles. "If you weren't such a good emperor, I'd make you a healer, I think. I'll take your advice, then, for the hour or so that's left of the night."  
  
The room Hotohori entered was dimly lit. Two comfortable beds and two cots had been set up against the wall furthest from the door. On the left-hand bed lay Nuriko. Hotohori hated the sight of her lying there, staring unblinking at the ceiling above the bed. As the emperor watched, a tear slid from one of Nuriko's eyes, sliding down along the tracks left by earlier tears. In the other bed lay Robin, so deeply unconscious that it took a long time to see him breathe. Butterfly sat in a chair next to Nuriko, and Narcsisus in a matching chair next to Robin. Both healers sat with closed eyes and steady breathing, holding the hand of their chosen patient. Neither of them seemed to notice the entrance of the emperor.  
  
Moving as silently as he could, Hotohori carried a chair between the beds and sat down. Taking the hands of both his friends, he closed his eyes. He rarely prayed, except for those times when the emperor customarily offered petitions for the good of the realm. Now he focused his mind on the warm, red glow within him and offered a personal petition. "Suzaku-shin, if I have ever served you, please help my friends. Take what you need from me and help them."   
  
The emperor slowed his breathing then and simply waited, remaining open to his friends and the healers who tended them. 


	14. Konan Nights, ch 14

"Heika." Hotohori was roused from his meditation by Chin's voice. The emperor released the hands of each of his friends with a final petition to Suzaku-shin, then opened his eyes. Chin stood before him with a cup of warm tea. Hotohori received it gratefully, and took a small sip.  
  
"Heika, I believed you would want to meet with Lord Lo and Jimu-san." Chin pointed out respectfully. Hotohori nodded. "Thank you. I'll be back to dress in just a moment."  
  
As Chin withdrew, the emperor stood and stretched muscles that had been unused for an hour at least. Beside him, both Robin and Nuriko slept; Narcissus had climbed into Robin's bed and was now asleep with his lover in his arms. Butterfly was not to be seen, but he could hear someone moving around in the private area of the suite. It was clear that whatever could be done for his friends was being done. Hotohori forced himself to walk to the door and turn his mind to his day's duties as emperor.  
  
In due course, he took his seat behind the desk in his most private office, motioning his two advisors to sit as well. As he had promised, he heard Lo's report on military developments and Konan-koku's response to Kutou-koku's troop movements. No decision was required of him in this regard -- Lo had apparently set his mind to handling the situation himself, and he was clearly up to the task. Hotohori told him as much, and Lo shrugged.  
  
"Yours to command," Lo responded, and it was one of the first times Hotohori was happy to hear those words.  
  
"Are there any other urgent matters before we deal with the report on my mother's regency?" the emperor inquired. Both the older men shook their heads. Hotohori nodded, and turned his attention to the report they had placed on his desk before he arrived.  
  
As he had expected, it was well-prepared, beginning with a summary of its main conclusions, and moving on to support those conclusions with facts. He read the first section carefully and skimmed the second section -- he could read that at length later. He saw several items he would like to learn more about, but that would have to wait.  
  
"Thank you, gentlemen. This is exactly what I hoped to receive. I will very likely have questions about it tomorrow. For now... Jimu-san, when is open Court today?"  
  
"It will convene in about two hours, Heika. We should be able to conclude each day's court session within three hours -- we will certainly try not to schedule more petitioners than can be dealt with in that amount of time. In addition, we will make every effort to trim the number of private audiences granted. I believe that we will be able to free at least three hours of your uninterrupted time each day in the early afternoon."  
  
"Excellent work. Three items, Jimu-san. Please request the administrators of the royal harem to meet me here in the first hour after noon today. I expect to see *all* the administrators, Jimu-san. Specifically, I expect the lady administrators to be included in the invitation."  
  
Jimu actually blinked several times -- apparently this was not something he expected to hear. But he simply nodded and replied, "Yes, Heika. I will issue the summonses."  
  
"Invitations, Jimu-san. However -- make them persuasive invitations."  
  
Jimu smiled drily. "As you say, Heika."  
  
"I would also like to see Chichiri-sei at his convenience, at whatever time you can fit him into my schedule." Jimu nodded.  
  
"One final item, Jimu-san. There ought to be a report from the Civil Guard addressed to me regarding the destruction of a building in the capital. Please find that report for me and give me the following information just before the beginning of Court. First, I need a description of the extent of the damage. Second, I wish to know whether a body was found in the wreckage. And third, I need a figure for the costs of repair or rebuilding the structure."  
  
Jimu looked intrigued. "I saw such a report this morning, Heika. I was about to send it back for clarification, but I will instead get answers to your questions."  
  
"Good. Is there anything further, gentlemen?"  
  
Lo cleared his throat. Hotohori suppressed a grim smile -- yesterday he might have simply burst out with a comment; today he was more cautious. "Yes, Lord Lo?"  
  
"I do not presume to criticize your behavior, Heika. But I must point out that by leaving this Court yesterday you..."  
  
Hotohori stopped him with a glance. "Lord Lo. You are correct. By leaving the walls of the palace, which Chichiri-sei informs me contain magical wards specifically designed for my protection, I endangered myself. As I told you yesterday, I can no longer afford to put myself in unnecessary danger. I regret my error, and I will not repeat it. I will not leave the walls of the palace again, except in urgent necessity, until the danger to the realm has passed."  
  
Lord Lo bowed, accepting his emperor's assurance and perhaps acknowledging the implicit apology.  
  
Without further discussion the advisors withdrew. Hotohori turned his attention to the detailed section of their report, but... something was bothering him. He had the feeling he had left something undone, though he couldn't remember what...  
  
Then it came to him. He had promised to meet the unknown maiden in the bathing chamber before dawn. It was now nearly an hour past dawn. Snatching up the report he needed to read before his meeting with the administrators, Hotohori took the quickest route back to his own rooms. For once, he did not find Chin waiting for him. He smiled with pleasure for the unexpected moment of privacy, removed his clothes, threw on a loose, cool robe and rushed back to the bathing chamber. Once there (and still blessedly alone), he walked to the wall the held the Peephole and put his hand out to touch it.  
  
"Lady?"  
  
To his relief, she responded immediately, "Heika, you came!"  
  
"I'm sorry that I didn't come earlier. I had... an obligation that could not wait."  
  
"I didn't mean to..."  
  
"I just wanted you to know. I didn't mean to waste your time. I'll try not to do it again, but..."  
  
"Heika, you are Konan-no-Koutei. Of course you..."  
  
"Shhh, lady." He had to smile at her immediate defense of him. "You are important to me," he confided. He felt her blushing, and was oddly pleased. Courteously, he gave her a moment to collect herself, before addressing her again. "Lady?" He was surprised at how tentative the word sounded in his mind's ear.  
  
"Heika?"  
  
"I realized something yesterday. I forgot to ask your name. Who are you, lady?"  
  
The silence that followed felt odd to him, though he couldn't decide how or why. After a moment, she responded in a subdued tone, "Yesterday... when I spoke to Butterfly to tell her you didn't know about the Peephole? She asked me not to tell you my name... Heika."  
  
That was a surprise. He could command her to disregard Butterfly's instruction, but he was inclined to tread lightly where Butterfly was concerned. "Did she say why, Lady?"  
  
"She said... it wouldn't be fair to all the ladies in the harem. She said they deserved a chance to be considered by you when you chose your Empress." There was an embarrassed silence, then she spoke up with some heat. "I'm sorry, Heika, but I think she's right. It wouldn't be fair..."  
  
He smiled again, liking her sense of fairness, even if it seemed a little childish. It couldn't hurt to humor her and Butterfly. He didn't think she could actually hide among the other maidens for very long. "Well, lady, I'll need to call you something. How about... let's see. Will you let me call you Houki?"  
  
She laughed. "I like that -- a secret name. I will be Houki for you, Heika."  
  
"That's good, then..." Hotohori found himself suddenly unable to think of anything intelligent to say to continue the conversation. "I suppose I had better go, Houki-sama. I expect to be here tomorrow just before dawn, if that meets with your approval?"  
  
She laughed in delight at the idea of the emperor asking for her approval. "I will be pleased to attend on you then, Heika."  
  
He took his leave then, smiling what he was afraid was a slightly ridiculous smile.  
  
When he reached his dressing room this time, he found an agitated Chin waiting for him.  
  
"Heika, where have you been? I didn't expect you to return here from your office so quickly and..."  
  
"No excuse is needed, Chin. For once, your absence was more useful to me than your presence." With a smile, he cut off any response -- or reproof -- Chin might have offered. "I think I will dress for Court now, please, and look through this report in here before Court convenes."  
  
"Heika, I believe you asked to meet with Chichiri-sei? He is here."  
  
"Ah. Then I will speak to him first, thank you."  
  
He walked out to his bedchamber. "Chichiri-sei. I'm sorry I kept you waiting."  
  
The monk regarded Hotohori for a moment, then laughed outright. "I think perhaps the reason was a good one, no da! What may I do for you, Heika, no da?"  
  
Hotohori seated himself and motioned the monk to sit opposite. He took the moment to gather his thoughts. "Chichiri, not that I'm ungrateful but... how did I get *here*? I asked Robin to get Nuriko out of that ... mind-trap, but I didn't expect to be pulled out with her!"  
  
The monk shrugged then, looking a bit dissatisfied. "I don't really know, Hotohori-sei. I cannot ask Robin, and Narcissus is occupied with his healing, no da. Even Butterfly is occupied. I could not have done what Robin did, certainly. I must assume that the bond he formed with you in preparing to heal your unbalanced spirit allowed him to extract you, though clearly the cost was high. Beyond that, I am baffled na no da!"  
  
Hotohori smiled just a little. "Well, at least I'm not the only one baffled. Another question, then. Can you tell me how Nakago managed to imprison my brothers' spirits?"  
  
The monk rose abruptly then, and paced to the far wall before returning to his chair. "There are several possibilities, no da. Certainly there must have been a... disturbance, no da... when all your brothers were killed. Murder is... an action with consequences, no da. Six murders at once, even more so. Nakago has the skill to sense such a disturbance, na no da. At some time after that, no da, he must have chosen to capture your brothers' wandering spirits. Though why only three..."  
  
"Apparently, three made other choices."  
  
"That is a good thing, Heika no da. So, then, three of your brothers tried to remove themselves from the wheel of rebirth, no da, and became vulnerable to Nakago."  
  
"Mmm." Hotohori contemplated this explanation glumly. "I wish I could think of other ways Nakago might use them against me."  
  
Chichiri looked as grim then as Hotohori had ever seen him look with his mask on. "There is another reason I have come to you this morning, Heika no da." The monk pulled a small scroll from his kesa and handed it to Hotohori. "When I awoke this morning, I found this on the floor beside my bed, no da."  
  
Opening the scroll, Hotohori read: "Konan-no-Koutei: Congratulations on having escaped the trap your brothers prepared for you. Since they have proved useless to my plans, I have dispersed their spirits." The chop at the bottom identified the sender as Nakago.  
  
Hotohori compressed his lips in anger, but his voice was calm when he looked up. "What does he mean, dispersed?"  
  
"I cannot be certain, no da. It may mean he has has released them from their prison to wander as vengeful ghosts. Or it may mean he has removed them permanently from the wheel of rebirth by destroying them utterly, no da."  
  
Hotohori took a moment then to examine his emotions, and found them extremely mixed. He had never wished his brothers harm -- well, not beyond the revenge fantasies of childhood anyway. Yet he could not feel great regret for their deaths, if Nakago had indeed destroyed them. No, he decided after a moment -- for *this* death, if death it was. For their lives, in every meaningful sense, had ended at his mother's hand, and the intervening years had been only a half-life, if that. With a sigh, he asked the one remaining question.  
  
"As vengeful ghosts, could they be a danger either to me or to those of you who will be sailing to Hokkan?"  
  
"No, Heika no da. Not a serious danger, at any rate. If... if I encounter them, shall I try to return them to the wheel of rebirth?"  
  
Hotohori considered it for a moment. "If it can be done without endangering Miaka or your quest... I would consider it a personal favor."  
  
Chichiri reached out one finger to touch Hotohori's forehead. "Do not take too much on yourself, Heika no da. They chose of their own will to separate themselves from the journey of life and rebirth, na no da."  
  
Hotohori nodded gravely, acknowledging the point, and Chichiri smiled and pulled his hand back. "You are in better balance, Heika no da."  
  
Hotohori looked interested. "Really? Truthfully... I feel in better balance, as you put it. I think ... it seems wrong, I know, Chichiri-kun, but I feel as if having the chance to ... to fight them... " He stopped, because he could not find words for what he felt.  
  
"You have seen perhaps, that you are better fitted to rule than they, na no da."  
  
"That's part of it, certainly. Although... it's not a fair judgement, really. Had they lived to grow up and continue learning..."  
  
"And that is why it is unwise to separate oneself from the wheel of rebirth, na no da. They might have spent the years since their deaths learning some of what what they have not yet understood, instead of stagnating, no da."  
  
"They didn't choose their deaths, after all..."  
  
"No. That was a great wrong and you are right to abhor it, no da. But there are always choices, Heika no da. Even after death, choice is not withdrawn from us na no da."  
  
Hotohori laughed then -- there was something rather comical about the hearing such serious words punctuated with "no da". But his eyes were serious when he said, "Chichiri-kun, thank you. Robin said..." He had to wait until he could trust his voice again. "He named us brothers, we shichi-sei. I think he is right. You are my brothers in a way that my father's sons might never have been."  
  
Chichiri's smile in return was sweet, and Hotohori gathered it in with pleasure. After a moment, the monk stood, walked to the door, and opened it. Before stepping out, however, he turned a whimsical smile on the emperor and observed, "I think there is more than one reason for your improved balance, Heika no da. When you are considering the qualities of your future Empress, perhaps you ought to consider which of them can return your troubled heart to balance, na no da." He stepped through the door and closed it. For just a moment, Hotohori thought Chichiri's final smile lingered in the room for a moment after he was gone.  
  
Shaking his head to clear the absurd notion, the emperor stood and walked back to his dressing room. "How long before Court?" he asked Chin as he was dressed in formal robes.  
  
"About an hour, Heika."  
  
He nodded. He'd read for as long as he could but, there was more in that report than he could really assimilate in the time available. Well, even if he was not completely familiar with his mother's reign, he could at least set in motion the first step of his search for an Empress. And that would suffice for one afternoon, he decided.  
  
Court passed with excrutiating slowness. The concerns that came before him seemed petty when set against the threat that the realm would be overrun, and yet... Perhaps he should be grateful that his subjects still had time to occupy themselves with the concerns of peacetime. The petitions he would receive if Nakago made good his threat to march on Konan's capital would be much harder to hear...  
  
When Court was concluded he had only a few minutes to spare before his scheduled meeting with the lord and lady administrators of his harem. He felt an almost irresistable urge to check on Robin and Nuriko but... His duty won out, as it had for years now. He took a moment to send a wordless plea to Suzaku-shin, and then composed himself before entering his private office.  
  
Four men and three women altogether were waiting in front of his desk. It was an interesting group. Two of the men he knew already -- the grandfatherly, but very sharp, administrator he had personally appointed and the clerkly fellow he had approved upon his mother's death. Of the other two men, one looked like a harried undersecretary -- he even had a smudge of ink on his right hand, Hotohori noted. But it was the fourth man who piqued the emperor's interest. He was no beauty, with a flat peasant face and thinning hair, but he seemed to exude a spirit of tolerant goodwill. He was young, too -- surely no more than a year or two older than the emperor himself. Hotohori made a note to find out more about all four of the men, but especially that one. Turning his attention to the ladies, he looked for the veiled face of the woman Nuriko had called Crystal Sparrow. However, all three women wore full veils today -- closing ranks, the emperor diagnosed, in the face of their abrupt and unexpected summons to his presence.  
  
Seating himself, he motioned them to sit in the chairs someone had already set up for them. The ladies chose to sit at a greater distance than the men, allowing themselves to be visually effaced by the seating arrangement. Hotohori frowned -- at future meetings, he would have to arrange the seating more carefully, he decided. For now...  
  
"As Jimu-san must have informed you, the time has come for me to choose an empress. Because of pressing concerns, especially the war with Kutou-koku that is already upon us, I need to make the selection as quickly as possible, though not so quickly that I make a poor choice. I will rely on your guidance -- especially that of the ladies, who have the most detailed knowledge of the candidates I must choose from. I expect I will need to work closely with all of you, and I must ask that you make yourself available at this time each day until the matter is decided.  
  
"Now, I would like each of you to introduce yourselves and tell me what your duties are, with regard to the royal harem."  
  
The eldest man bowed then. "With your majesty's permission, I will tell you everyone's name and duties. I am..."  
  
"Lord Oji, I would prefer if each administrator spoke for him- or herself. You may certainly begin."  
  
Oji bowed again. "As you know, Heika, I am Oji Shibojin. I supervise the harem administrators and -- with Lord Shibumi --" he nodded to the other senior administrator, "I approve expenditures for the harem."  
  
Hotohori nodded and turned his attention to Shibumi, who seemed to be made in the same mold as Jimu-san -- orderlly, precise, and intolerant of anything outside his control.  
  
"Heika. I am Shibumi Kamizu. I prepare the budget for the harem, as well as reports on expenditures and consumption." Hotohori acknowledged his introduction with a nod.  
  
The second clerk cleared his throat a bit nervously. "Heika, ummm. I am Third-Place Scholar Takibun Sunoshi. I made a small study of forged documents, and Lord Oji brought me in to examine the documents of maidens requesting admission to the harem. I also maintain records of the coming and going of the maidens, the support staff such as maids and guards, and the correspondence that is received and sent by the maidens."  
  
Hotohori gave the small bow due to someone who had placed third in the national examinations. He would ask Chiriko about Takibun-san. The emperor turned his attention to the fourth man.  
  
"Heika." The man's voice was deeper than Hotohori had expected, rich and pleasing. The man's face, also, now that it was not set in an expression of respectful waiting, was mobile and expressive. Hotohori's regard for the man went up a notch. "I am Lord Hakamoto Saizechi. I handle any... situations that arise if a maiden must be refused entrance to the harem, and occasionally I play marriage broker for a maiden who wishes to contract a marriage upon leaving the harem."  
  
Ah. So now Hotohori knew who kept peace among the powerful families who could not place a daughter in the harem. The name Hakamoto was known to him, of course, as one of the most prominent families in the realm. Several of his advisors came from various branches of that family -- this was indeed a man to learn more about.  
  
There was a pause and then one of the ladies rose and bowed deeply to the emperor. "With your majesty's permission, I am Lady Namatake Tamakou. I had the honor of serving among your mother's ladies, and I have had charge of the physical well-being of the ladies of your harem since it was created." With a final bow, the lady sat again. From her voice and the way she moved, Hotohori could guess that she was at least as old as Lord Oji, and likely older.  
  
The second lady stood. "Heika, I am Lady Hakamoto Azaku. I have served in the administration of your harem for nearly four years." The lady's voice was deep and pleasant, but with what might be a small speech impediment. Without further explanation, she sat.  
  
The third lady also rose, fidgeting slightly. "I am... I mean, Heika. I am Lady Kousora Kaboku. I have served with the other ladies for only about six months." Sounding rather flustered, she sat down.  
  
Well, at least there was no doubt in Hotohori's mind which of the ladies was Nuriko's Crystal Sparrow. "Lady Hakamoto, are you part of Lord Hakamoto's household?" he asked.  
  
The lady rose again. "I have the honor to be his second wife, Heika." When the emperor asked no further questions, she seated herself again.  
  
Hotohori considered the seven men and women before him, wondering how to make of them the kind of allies he needed to accomplish what he must. At length he decided on a direct approach.  
  
"It is good to meet you at last, ladies, gentlemen. I have only lately begun to take an interest in the royal harem, as you know. I regret my earlier neglect. I did not realize how many ways the harem might have come to reflect dishonor on this court and... on myself. I've been luckier than I deserved, since you have all served me exceptionally well in the face of my disinterest. For that, I owe you thanks.   
  
"What I would like from you, at the earliest possible moment, is a report -- an evaluation of each of the maidens in the harem. I realize that you must have excellent and detailed records, but I need more than records. I need -- I need your judgement.  
  
"The lady I seek will be my partner for the remainder of my reign. I need someone I can depend on -- someone I can assign important work that I cannot find time to do, knowing that work will be done effectively and honorably. I need an empress who will back me with every bit of strength and talent she posesses, but who will be brave enough to tell me when she sees I am about to make an error."  
  
Hotohori paused then, not sure how to handle the next thing he had to say. Finally, he sighed. "All of this would be difficult enough, but I need more. We are at war, and I have become a target of that war in my own person. I need an empress who could, if necessary, take the reins of power in case of my death and keep the realm functioning -- even flourishing -- until an infant son was fit to rule. I need a lady who could guide that child to become a strong and capable ruler." He smiled a little sadly. "In short, ladies, gentlemen, I need the impossible. I'm sorry to ask it of you, but... the realm deserves nothing less."  
  
He had them, Hotohori saw, with a small thrill of exhileration. For the first time, he understood what Hummingbird had said to him -- that he could turn the hearts and minds of those who served him to his own ends. It was ... a little frightening, but heady, too.  
  
After a thoughtful pause, Lady Namatake rose. "Heika, I think one thing that must be considered in such a report is the dispositions of the families of each maiden. If... forgive me, but if the empress were to become a dowager at an early age, an ambitious family might manipulate her for their own gain."  
  
Hotohori acknowledged the point with a nod. The discussion began in earnest then, as the administrators began to discuss what must be explored in the report. He considered allowing them to continue without him, then decided against it. Another day he would send them off on their own; for now he wanted to watch them and learn. He had already deduced that they had not worked together much before today -- they had the feeling of seven near strangers, each with his or her area of responsibility. Now they were beginning to form a new working relationship. Hotohori leaned back, satisfied to watch them work. 


End file.
